BostonUniversity Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine
What’s
ARTgot
to do
with it?
How today’s med
students become
better doctors
by being better
observers, listeners,
and participants
in the arts.
WINTER 2015 • bumc.bu.edu
Message From The Dean
Contents
Boston University Medicine
From the White Coat ceremonies we
highlight here to the celebration of
Commencement, a BUSM education is a
resource-rich environment for students.
Enhancing their experience creates a
healthy environment for them to meet the
challenges of modern medical and science
education and facilitates their development as confident, aware physicians and
scientists attuned to patients and to the
complex issues in health care delivery and
scientific research.
Astronaut and doctor Mae Jemison
said, “The difference between science
and the arts is not that they are different sides of the same coin, or even different parts of the same continuum, but
rather they’re manifestations of the same
thing . . . science provides an understanding of a universal experience, and arts
provide a universal understanding of a
personal experience.” The arts play a vital
role in the lives of our students, faculty,
and alumni through a variety of activities on the Medical Campus, including a
College of Fine Arts program created to
bring the arts across the University. We
make available diverse electives like Visual
Thinking Strategies, the linkage for that
universal experience and understanding. In this issue, we showcase some of
WINTER 2015
Boston University Medicine is published by the Boston
University Medical Campus Communications Office
on behalf of Boston University School of Medicine.
Maria Ober
Director of Communications
Mary Hopkins
Publications Manager
design & production
Boston University Creative Services
contributing writers
Lisa Brown, Kate DeForest,
Mary Hopkins
photography
Atlantic Photos, Boston University Photography,
Sara Cody, Frank Curran, Kate DeForest, Amy Gorel,
Jake Hopkins, David Keough
Best regards,
Physician Assistant (PA) students
happily model their new white coats.
Karen Antman, MD
Provost, Medical Campus
Dean, School of Medicine
Professor of Medicine
FEATURE
Please direct any questions or comments to:
Mary Hopkins
Communications Office
Boston University Medical Campus
85 East Newton Street, M420
Boston, MA 02118
P 617-638-8491 | F 617-638-8044 |
E [email protected]
0215
P;HOTO BY KALMAN ZABARSKY
DEAR FRIENDS,
these opportunities. Alumnus and travel
and nature photographer Paul Gitman
(MED’66) is a perfect example of melding a
life of clinical practice with visual representation of the cultural variety of human and
animal societies. Some of his wonderful
work is included in this issue.
Diverse populations bring diverse thinking and perspective. Seeing things differently can be a key component to effective
research teams. Creating a pipeline of
diverse students interested in the biomedical
sciences is important to the School and to
the future of scientific discovery. We highlight here the Division of Graduate Medical
Sciences’ (GMS) STaRS program. Initiated by
GMS Associate Provost Linda Hyman and
developed and directed by faculty member
William Cruikshank, STaRS is creating access
for underrepresented minority students to
advanced biomedical education and expanding opportunities for engagement in scientific pursuits.
Alumnus Howard Bauchner (MED’79)
received the University’s highest alumni
award during University Alumni Weekend
last fall. Renowned editor-in-chief of JAMA
and a former BUSM pediatrics professor,
Bauchner shares some of his thoughts on
publishing one of the world’s premier medical journals in the digital age.
The Campaign for Boston University has
raised $768 million of the billion-dollar goal.
We are gratified that School of Medicine
efforts have raised $127 million of our $200
million goal. With the receipt of gifts such
as the $1.3 million bequest of Class of 1959
alumnus Frank Gazzaniga and his wife,
Florence, for scholarships, we look forward
to reaching our goal that supports the training of our students and the teaching and
scholarship of our faculty.
20
DEPARTMENTS
THE ARTS ISSUE
How the BU Arts Outreach Initiative is creating a new
way to think about students, patients & medicine.
2 Campus News
27 Research
14 Faculty News
30 Giving to BUSM
19 Student News
32 Alumni News
On the cover: Third-year medical student Tripp Leavitt, course manager
for the Visual Education in Medicine elective. Photo by Michael D. Spencer
Boston University School of Medicine
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
1
CAMPUS
News
BUSM
ON THE
WEB
facebook.com/
BUMedicine
twitter.com/
BUMedicine
Far left: Jeffrey Choi and Yeon Woo Lee
came to Boston from South Korea. They
enrolled at BU three years ago for their
undergraduate studies in the Seven-Year
Med program.
Left: Robert Lowe, MD, associate professor of medicine at BUSM and fellowship
director of the Section of Gastroenterology at BMC, borrows the words of a
famous doctor to tell students that they
are now embarking on a profession of
unlimited hours.
Below right: Vonne Lee has been braving
the Boston winters for a while now—
she graduated from Boston University
School of Public Health in 2012 and has
been working at Boston Medical Center
for the past two years.
Below left: Students wearing their first
white coats.
White Coat 2014
M
embers of the BUSM Class of 2018 were
advised to dismiss any expectations of 9-to-5
jobs as they assembled on Talbot Green for
the White Coat Ceremony, which symbolizes
the beginning of medical training and a commitment to the
ethics and values that go along with the profession.
2
Boston University School of Medicine
“You will be a doctor all the time, wherever you are, and you will expect things
of yourself even when no one else knows
you’re a doc,” guest speaker Robert Lowe,
MD, BUSM associate professor of medicine,
told the 166 students. “You will be calm in
crisis, you will step forward to help when
others hang back, and you will comfort
and heal at accident scenes, Little League
games, and on airplanes. The coat is very
nice, but the oath you are about to take is
the key to this ceremony, and the way in
which you adopt those principles and make
them a part of you is the most important
part of your education.
“So just know that when this is over, you
can do it without the coat and to paraphrase
the famous Dr. Suess, ‘. . . you can do it in a
box and you can do it with a fox . . . you will do
it here and there, you will do it everywhere.’
And soon you’ll learn just what I mean, so
welcome, Class of 2018.”
Lowe also stressed that the tradition of
students donning the white coat begins to
instill the values of professionalism from
the very start of medical training. The coat
is meant as a reminder of the qualities they
need to embrace as future doctors—hard
work, humility, the ability to stay calm and
handle a crisis, and putting others before
self. These qualities, he advised, will come to
“be in you, not on you.”
This year’s class ranges in age from 20 to
32. Some members are only a few months
out of their undergraduate programs, while
34 hold a master’s degree or above. They
come from 31 states and 23 countries. The
majority of the class—86 percent—is bilingual, and together they speak a total of 28
languages. Women make up 51 percent of
the class and under-represented minorities
20 percent.
With help from their professors and in the
presence of family and friends, the class put on
their white coats for the first time, marking the
start of their journey to becoming physicians.
The ceremony closed with the students
reciting the Hippocratic Oath, a promise
to respect the physicians who have come
before them and to practice with compassion and ethics, which they will recite again
at graduation. n
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
3
CAMPUS News
"
T
he white coat
you wear is
a symbol to
patients of a
safe haven; a symbol of help
with their pain, injury, or
disease. They give us their
trust and we cannot abuse
that trust. As clinicians we
take a vow to put someone
else ahead of ourselves.
"
The PA class recites the Physician Assistant Professional Oath.
4
Boston University School of Medicine
BUSM Class of 2018 Parents Reception
Physician
Assistant
Professional
Oath
on august 4, the school of medicine held a reception for parents and guests of
the BUSM Class of 2018, who enjoyed refreshments while mingling with department chairs and other BUSM faculty members before being welcomed by Dean
Karen Antman, MD.
The dean spoke of the importance of family support for first-year medical students, what students should expect during the first year of medical school, and recent
campus enhancements, including the renovated classrooms and new electronic testing center in the Instructional Building. Following the ceremony, students and their
guests joined BUSM faculty and staff on Talbot Green for a dessert reception. n
I pledge to perform the following
duties with honesty and dedication:
• I will hold as my primary
responsibility the health,
safety, welfare, and dignity
of all human beings.
• I will uphold the tenets of patient
autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice.
• I will recognize and promote the
value of diversity.
Below left: Keith Parker, Savan Parker,
and Jayshri Parker
Below right: Dr. Dwayne Baharozian,
Alyna Baharozian, Christine Baharozian,
and Douglas Hughes, MD, associate
dean for academic affairs
Bottom left: Terry Ng, Jessica Ng, and
Maggie Koong
Bottom right: John Batter, Rafael Ortega,
MD, and Lisa Batter
• I will treat equally all persons
who seek my care.
• I will hold in confidence the
information shared in the course
of practicing medicine.
• I will assess my personal capabilities and limitations, striving
always to improve my medical
practice.
• I will actively seek to expand my
knowledge and skills, keeping
abreast of advances in medicine.
• I will work with other members of the health care team
to provide compassionate and
effective care of patients.
• I will use my knowledge and
experience to contribute to an
improved community.
• I will respect my professional
relationship with the physician.
• I will share and expand knowledge within the profession.
These duties are pledged with
sincerity and upon my honor.
Carl Toney delivers the keynote address to the
first class of PA students.
PHOTOS BY ATLANTIC PHOTO SERVICE INC. ©2014
the inaugural physician assistant (pa)
class received their white coats at the PA
White Coat ceremony July 16. Accompanied
by family and friends, the 25 members of the
Class of 2016—who were of diverse backgrounds and hailed from all parts of the country—were welcomed into the profession by
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Doug
Hughes, MD, and BU PA Program Director
Mary Warner, PA-C.
Carl Toney, PA, a graduate of the Duke
University Physician Assistant Program
who has had a long career in primary care,
public health, and public policy, delivered the
keynote address. “Two pillars of truth as a
clinician are first, the practice of medicine is
not just a job or career, it is a sacred calling,
a lifelong pledge; and second, our patients
come to us because they have to, not because
they want to,” Toney said. “The white coat you
wear is a symbol to patients of a safe haven; a
symbol of help with their pain, injury, or disease. They give us their trust and we cannot
abuse that trust. As clinicians we take a vow
to put someone else ahead of ourselves.”
Toney, currently assistant professor of
clinical medicine and health policy at the
University of New England, served as a health
manpower specialist in the Georgia Division
of Public Health and as the director of the
HIV/STD Prevention Program for the Maine
Bureau of Health. In 2000, he founded the
Center for Transcultural Health at the University of New England, where he served as
founding director for 11 years. He is a community ambassador for the National Health
Service Corps and a member of the Diversity
Cabinet for the United Way of Greater Portland and the Maine State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil
Rights.
David Coleman, MD, Wade Professor and
Chair of the BUSM Department of Medicine,
also addressed the class. “We have worked
long and hard to establish this program,” he
said. “We are inspired by the students we
have attracted who understand the obligation
and privilege we have to our patients, whether
they are homeless or victims of violence. Our
enduring gift as clinicians is to help people.”
After donning their coats, the class
recited the PA Professional Oath. n
PHOTOS BY KALMAN ZABARSKY
Inaugural Physician
Assistant Class
Receives White Coats
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
5
CAMPUS News
David C. Seldin, MD, PhD, Installed as Wesley and Charlotte
Skinner Professor for Research in Amyloidosis
Department of Pediatrics Remembers Longtime
Faculty Member Joel Alpert, MD
O
6
Boston University School of Medicine
Martha Skinner, MD; David Seldin, MD, PhD;
Dean Karen Antman, MD; and David Coleman, MD.
Medical Center. Seldin was the first director
of the graduate program in molecular medicine in the Division of Graduate Medical
Sciences and established graduate courses
in cancer biology and in diseases of protein
misfolding. He has mentored more than 20
pre- and post-doctoral trainees in his own
laboratory, served on innumerable thesis
committees, and trained a generation of
clinical fellows. n
BUMC Pride
Members of the Medical Campus Community, including BUSM, BUSPH, and
BUGSDM students, proudly marched in the 44th annual Boston Pride Parade on
June 14. The parade was sponsored by Boston Pride, an organization that promotes
events and activities to advance
inclusivity, equality, respect, and
awareness in Greater Boston and
beyond. Boston Pride advocates
for social justice for the LGBTQ
community by disseminating news,
encouraging dialogue, and mobilizing people to act on issues of local,
national, and global significance. n
TOP PHOTO BY ATLANTIC PHOTO SERVICE INC. ©2014
n June 12, the School of
Medicine installed David C.
Seldin, MD, PhD, whose collaborations with colleagues at BU
and elsewhere have contributed to an outstanding academic career, as the incumbent
Wesley and Charlotte Skinner Professor
for Research in Amyloidosis. Colleagues,
friends, and patients celebrated the honor
with remarks by Dean Karen Antman,
MD; David Coleman, MD, Wade Professor
and Chair of the Department of Medicine;
Martha Skinner, MD, professor of medicine
and special projects director of the BU
Amyloidosis Center; and Aram Chobanian,
MD, president emeritus of BU and dean
emeritus of BUSM.
Professor of Medicine and Microbio­
logy, Seldin joined the BUSM faculty
in 1994, was promoted to professor in
2005, and became chief of the Section of
Hematology-Oncology in 2008. In 2011,
he became director of the internationally known BU Amyloidosis Center. His
research interests focus on cancer and
blood disorders, particularly the light chain
form of amyloidosis. He and his colleagues
developed a publically available database
of amyloidogenic light chains and the first
transgenic model of AL, or primary amyloidosis, used to test novel therapeutics. He
also is an active clinical investigator, serving as principal or co-investigator on trials
of immunomodulatory drugs, proteasome
inhibitors, and anti-fibril antibodies for AL.
He and his colleagues work on refining
techniques of autologous stem cell transplantation and developing therapies for
other forms of amyloidosis.
Seldin serves as an attending physician
and member of the Stem Cell Transplant
Program at Boston Medical Center. His clinical skills have been recognized on a variety
of “Best Doctors” lists. He is a member of
the executive committee of the BU Clinical
and Translational Science Institute and of
the BU Cancer Center. He also serves on
the Medical Executive Committee of Boston
support of universal health care, and his
on may 22, the department of pediatrics
expert skills as a clinician. “He was a fanatic
remembered a longtime BUSM faculty
about the physical exam. We watched
member and esteemed pediatrician for his
him use all of his senses and learned the
remarkable professional achievements and
importance of listening to the patient and
his passion for improving the health and
the family. He would not let up when he
welfare of children. Their program, “Joel
believed something. He was extremely
Alpert, MD, A Celebration of his Life and
confident . . . so that he seemed invincible.
Legacy 1930–2013,” was a wonderful event
That’s why his dying was so hard.”
that Dr. Alpert himself—who chaired the
“Nothing was more important than his
BUSM Department of Pediatrics from 1972
family,” recalled Robert Vinci, MD, the Joel
until 2000—would have greatly enjoyed.
and Barbara Alpert Professor and Chair of
Dr. Alpert passed away on December
Pediatrics at BUSM and a former trainee
31, 2013, after a more than four-decade
of Alpert. “He treated all of us like family,
career at BUSM and Boston Medical
setting the standard for this department.
Center. But as the many distinguished
Today’s ceremony is not to thank Joel or
speakers affirmed during the memorial
only remember him; it is really about this
program, Dr. Alpert’s legacy lives on in the
department ensuring that we complete the
impact he had on the practice of pediatnext chapter of Joel’s career. We can and
rics, the public health initiatives he spearwill honor him and his career by continuing
headed, the patients he cared for, and the
ours with the same passion that drove his.
many physicians he trained and mentored.
We will continue to advocate for children
Attended by colleagues, friends, and
and fight the tough battles as his guiding
family, including his wife Barbara and his
legacy for this department.” n
children Norman, Deborah, Mark, and their
spouses, the event featured fond
remembrances of Dr. Alpert’s
deep attachment to BUSM and
Boston Medical Center, his pioneering pediatric research, his
national leadership in pediatrics,
and his dedication to ensuring
support for future leaders and
practitioners of pediatrics.
“Joel tenaciously advocated
for increased funding for junior
faculty and clinical services,” said
Dean Karen Antman, MD. “He
was a fierce advocate for medical students and was passionate
about getting them into pediatrics
and the right residency for their
careers.“
Barry Zuckerman, MD, professor and chair emeritus of pediatrics at BUSM who trained under
From left: Davida Schiff, MD (MED’12); Barry Zuckerman,MD;
Alpert and was his colleague of
Barbara Alpert, MPH (SPH’79); Mark Silverstein, MD, MPH;
40 years, highlighted his menHoward Bauchner, MD (MED’79); and Robert Vinci, MD.
tor’s sense of justice, his lifelong
"
H
e was a
fanatic about
the physical exam.
We watched him use all of
his senses and learned the
importance of listening to
the patient and the family.
He would not let up when
he believed something.
He was extremely confident . . . so that he seemed
invincible.
"
—Barry Zuckerman, MD
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
7
CAMPUS News
H
oward Bauchner, MD (MED’79),
is editor-in-chief of the Journal of
the American Medical Association
(JAMA), the most widely circulated
and one of the most prestigious medical journals
in the world. Boston University recognized
Bauchner's outstanding contributions to the
medical profession by presenting him with
a Distinguished Alumni Award, BU’s highest
alumni recognition, during the University’s
Alumni Weekend on September 20.
Howard Bauchner, MD
(MED’79)
BAUCHNER OVERSEES the
publication of 48 JAMA print
issues per year with a circulation of more than 325,000, and
several weekly online releases
accessed more than 14 million times annually. Until he
assumed his role at JAMA in
July of 2011, he spent more
than 35 years of his academic
and professional life at BU as
8
Boston University School of Medicine
a medical student, resident in
pediatrics, teacher, researcher,
and clinician. He completed
his undergraduate training at
the University of California,
Berkeley, and pediatric residencies at Boston City Hospital
and Yale-New Haven Hospital
and served as a Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation Fellow in
General Pediatrics at Yale from
1984 to 1986. He rose to the
rank of professor of Pediatrics
and Public Health at BUSM
and served as director of the
Division of General Pediatrics
and vice-chair of Academic
Affairs at BUSM and Boston
Medical Center. While a member of the BUSM faculty, he
was selected to be a scholarin-residence at the Center
for the Future of Children at
the David and Lucile Packard
Foundation and associate visiting professor of pediatrics at
Stanford University. He also
served as a child and adolescent health scholar-in-residence for the Agency for Health
Care Research and Quality in
Washington, DC.
He conducted clinical and
health services research for
more than two decades, publishing more than 125 papers
in peer-reviewed journals. His
research has received support
from the National Institutes
of Health, foundations, and
industry.
You became editor-in-chief of
JAMA three years ago. What
made you want to be part of
publishing a medical journal?
I have always been a journal
junkie. I always was reading the
medical literature, keeping up
with it and using it for teaching
and making clinical decisions.
Then journals went electronic
and that radically transformed
the world of medical journalism.
About 10 years ago, I was lucky
that my old mentor, the late Joel
Alpert (former professor and
chair of pediatrics at BUSM),
recommended me to the journal
Archives of Disease in Childhood,
the official publication of the
Royal College of Paediatrics
and Child Health in the United
Kingdom. They were looking for
an editor-in-chief and took me
story about a particular issue.
At JAMA, we make sure that
the authors interpret results
appropriately and we use our
editorial pages to place articles
in the broader context of health,
health care, and the health care
system.
As a communications network, it is very important that
content is communicated in different formats. In some regards
we need to be an agnostic communicator of information. Our
readers should have access to
print or electronic versions of
our content, on mobile devices
or computers. We need to have
audio and video. The way the
world of communication has
changed in the past 10 years
necessitates changes in the way
journals must communicate
their content.
as their first American editor;
I ultimately became editorin-chief. They gave me many
opportunities for experimentation. I have worked to understand how print and digital
journals should be used to move
scientific information from
investigators into the broader
medical community.
Why is JAMA important?
Journals are the conduit
by which the scientific community communicates with the
larger medical community and
with the public; they move scientific information around the
world. Few journals do that as
effectively as JAMA. JAMA is a
legacy journal in the sense that
it originated in print along with
the three other weekly journals—NEJM, Lancet, and the
BMJ—that are the most prestigious medical journals in the
world. Though we are a weekly,
with the onset of digital media
we publish almost daily online,
so just five minutes ago we
published online, ahead of print,
a viewpoint on Ebola and the
crisis in Africa. There are many
media outlets that are doing an
excellent job covering the Ebola
crisis, but that coverage has not
focused on important ethical
and public health issues, which
are the focus of the viewpoint.
As a respected voice in medicine around the world, JAMA
can influence clinical care and
policy debates.
What is your philosophy of
communicating scientific/
medical research?
First, what we publish
must be valid. Second, it is
very important that authors
not overstate the value of their
research. Very few studies
change practice overnight; most
often they add to a complicated
PHOTO BY DAVE GREEN
Howard Bauchner, MD,
Receives BU’s Highest
Alumni Award
What are some of the recent
changes at JAMA?
JAMA has been a magical
name for decades so I thought
the use of the name as a brand
was very important. The notion
of creating a network of journals
all branded JAMA was a priority, hence JAMA and The JAMA
Network. What used to be nine
archives of journals now have
the JAMA name and the name
change—and the new and unified website—have raised their
visibility.
Although I think this was
difficult for many people, the
print redesign of JAMA was
symbolic in signaling updates
to our content. The redesign
allowed us to create domains
for our readers whether they
access our content in print or
electronically, and helped to
reinforce the major domains. For
example, in a discussion with
a senior member of American
medicine, he mentioned that he
really loves JAMA’s viewpoints
and was pleased we added
them to the journal. Actually,
JAMA has had opinion pieces
for many years, but they were in
the back of the journal and hard
to discover. Even though we had
great content it was hard to find,
so the redesign has enhanced
the visibility of our content.
We have moved aggressively into social media. When
I came to JAMA we had about
20,000 followers on Twitter
and Facebook, and our online
version went to 50,000 people.
Now, we have 225,000 Twitter
and Facebook followers, and
we send out our weekly ETOC
(electronic table of contents)
alert to close to 400,000 physicians. The way we connect
with the world has fundamentally changed over the past
three years. We touch between
750,000 and 1,000,000 readers with our content each week.
We know ultimately we
have to engage with our readers more effectively; we are not
quite there yet. I think Twitter
and Facebook may serve a different purpose than the normal
website or print. Social media
connects us with the world
in a way print and web content don’t. There is a multiplier
effect. In some regards you do
it because it is the modern way
to touch the medical community but also it is a way to drive
people to our website. Yet, the
conversation remains unidirectional. Our goal is to develop
effective bidirectional communication with the scientific and
clinical communities.
We have created a new
app called the JAMA Network
Reader that allows our content
to be disseminated free around
the world. We have created
many new article types called
“shorts.” These are two-page
synopses of the literature,
including meta-analyses, guidelines, and statistical methods,
that are useful and easy to read
for the busy clinician. It has
been a busy three years.
a review of how it is used. This
is an important example of how
JAMA can contribute to discussion and debate about complex
medical issues.
Will social media help you to
better connect with medical
students?
We know medical students
value JAMA, but they may want
to engage with us in a different
way. I think it is how an individual wants to engage with our
content that is important. For
example, some folks may not
like the content in shorter versions, but some certainly will.
Reading habits have changed
and will continue to evolve. We
want to give people options
with respect to our content.
Although we have accomplished
a great deal—and I do mean
we—there are many people in
editorial and publishing working
long hours to modernize JAMA.
We have much, much more to
accomplish.
How did your years at BU prepare you for your career?
It has been the richness of
the Boston University community for 30-plus years that has
allowed me to thrive. Whatever
I have accomplished in my
life is due to my mentors and
the environment that I was
allowed to succeed in. Howard
Koh, the former US Assistant
Secretary for Health, was my
resident as a medical student.
During residency, Joel Alpert,
then professor and chair of
pediatrics, and faculty members Ben Siegel, Steve Pelton,
and Barry Zuckerman were
such wise and caring physicians who taught me about
the importance of clinical care
and listening to patients. Jerry
Klein, a gentleman and scholar,
has provided lifelong wisdom. I
was allowed to complete sabbaticals under Alpert and his
successor, Zuckerman, allowing me time to think without
the pressure of writing grants or
seeing patients. And of course
my many, many colleagues over
the years—Bob Vinci, Bobbi
Philipps, Bill Adams, Megan
Sandel, Jason Wang, and
Michael Silverstein—have provided continued stimulation and
inspiration.
Do you see yourself as an
advocate?
I want to ensure that the
pages of JAMA can critically add
to the discussion about complex
clinical, policy, and ethical issues
that affect patients around the
world. It is my preference to
ensure that JAMA is a platform
for experts to communicate
their thoughts and ideas about
important topics. For example,
nine months ago we commissioned a viewpoint on uterine
morcellation by two leading
scholars. Subsequently, we
published a research letter that
details some of the associated
risks of cancer in women who
undergo uterine morcellation.
Along with other publications
and professionals, a critically
important discussion about this
procedure has ensued as well as
What is in the future?
JAMA will continue to be
one of the most influential journals in the world, but it must
continue to evolve and adapt to
changes in publishing. We must
reach out to our authors and
readers to seek their advice as
to what we can do better, and
how we can improve. n
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
9
CAMPUS News
Dean’s Advisory
Board Meeting and
Scholarship Dinner
Dean Antman Visits
BUSM Community in
California
he Dean’s Advisory Board held
its annual fall meeting on October 23. Dean Karen Antman,
MD, opened the proceedings
with a discussion on campus planning
and renovation, as well as current BUSM
research strategies. Robert Witzburg, MD
(MED’77), associate dean and director
for admissions, presented a profile of the
incoming Class of 2018. Michael Silverstein,
MD, vice chair for research in the Department of Pediatrics, spoke about innovative
research practices within the department
that aim to improve the lives of vulnerable
children and families.
Nahid Bhadelia, MD, director of infection control at the BU National Emerging
Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL),
and Elke Muhlberger, PhD, director of the
biomolecule production core at the NEIDL,
gave the Board a timely synopsis of BUSM’s
clinical and research impact on the Ebola
outbreak.
Board members later joined scholarship
donors at the Hotel Commonwealth for a
dinner celebrating the impact of scholarship
funds, where Kate Weber (MED’18) discussed the critical role scholarship support
is playing in her medical school education. n
last summer dean karen antman, md,
traveled to northern and southern California
to meet with alumni, parents, and students prior to the start of the school year.
Neda and Shahram Gholami (MED’96) and
Stacy Weiss, MD, and Pedram Salimpour
(MED’00), graciously hosted receptions at
their homes. These events gave attendees
a great opportunity to connect with each
other and meet current and incoming medical students. n
T
Wayne Riley, MD,
Dean Karen Antman, MD,
and Louis Sullivan, MD
(MED’58).
Faculty Couple Donates
Collection of Rare
Historical Books to
Medical Library
Aileen Caceres (MED’18), Lewis Pleasants (MED’17), Sarkis Kechejian, MD
(MED’63), Deandrea King (MED’18), and
Ekta Patel (MED’17).
BUSM Scholarship
donors and students.
10
Boston University School of Medicine
A
t a ceremony honoring John
Noble, MD, BUSM professor of
general internal medicine, and
Ewa Kuligowska-Noble, MD,
BUSM professor of radiology, the couple
stands in front of a bookcase that houses
the collection of rare books they donated to
the BUSM Alumni Library.
“We are here today to celebrate two
Boston University leadership careers in
radiology and medicine,” said Dean Karen
Antman, MD. “We thank them for making
this collection of rare and important titles
available to our medical and graduate students to read from the original texts, and for
realizing their historical context.”
A treasury of unique and historical medical books from the Nobles’ personal medical
library that John Noble carefully selected during 35 years of service at BUSM, the collection
includes rare Vesalius volumes, many works
by and about William Osler, books on infectious diseases (such as smallpox) from the
1700s, books published as early as the 1500s,
and textbooks edited by John Noble himself.
“The smartest thing we ever did was
come to Boston University to work with a
Host Pedram Salimpour (MED’00) (far left), Calvin Fong (MED’17),
Boston University Assistant Dean of Students Daryl Deluca, and
Dean Antman (far right) are joined by a group of incoming medical
students at a Pacific Palisades reception.
variety of people and care for some of the
most difficult patients,” said Noble. “It has
been a wonderful place to spend our lives.
We are pleased to have this collection here
in the Alumni Medical Library to give present and future generations the opportunity
to see things from perspectives that are no
longer easy to attain.”
It is important to Noble that the books
be placed in a highly visible location in
the library, rather than stored in a locked
archives room not to be seen and enjoyed.
Both he and his wife have expressed hope
that their donation might inspire other
physicians or faculty to donate additional
materials, and thus build an even
more robust collection of historical
medical texts.
“Building such an inspiring collection
requires knowledge, passion, and commitment,” said Mary Blanchard, director of
the Alumni Medical Library. “This valuable
collection sets a foundation and brings perspective to the entire BU Medical Campus
community. We are deeply grateful to Dr.
Noble and Dr. Kuligowska-Noble.” n
Mary Blanchard, John Noble, Ewa Kuligowska-Noble,
and Dean Karen Antman flank the plaque dedicating
Drs. Noble and Kuligowska-Noble’s donation to the
Alumni Medical Library.
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
11
CAMPUS News
in july of 2012, the national
Institutes of Health (NIH) issued an advisory report that recommended creating
new research training models to increase
diversity among the ranks of scientists.
Three years earlier, Linda Hyman, PhD,
associate provost of the Division of
Graduate Medical Sciences (GMS), was
ahead of the curve in piloting a program
with Xavier University designed to help
increase interest in and access to graduate programs in the biomedical sciences
among underrepresented minorities.
Her early initiative is now a program—
funded this year for the first time with
a grant from the NIH National Health,
Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)—that
welcomed 17 students from across the
country to the Medical Campus. The
Summer Training as Research Scholars
(STaRS) program offers an introduction
to graduate science education for talented
undergraduates from minority groups
traditionally underrepresented in the biomedical sciences including African American, Hispanic, Native American/Native
Alaskan, and Pacific Island and Native
Hawaiian students.
“Diversity breeds better science,”
says William Cruikshank, PhD, BUSM
professor of medicine and assistant dean
of diversity and multicultural affairs, who
garnered the NHLBI funding and directs
STaRS. “By increasing diversity and engaging those with different life experiences,
different and better questions are asked
that open up avenues for better research.”
“We are very interested in increasing diversity in the biomedical sciences
at BU and in general,” notes Cruikshank,
who is also director of the Molecular and
Translational Medicine Graduate Program in the Department of Medicine and
director of immunology at the Pulmonary
Center. “One of the most effective ways to
do that is to bring students to the Medical
Campus, expose them to research, and get
12
Boston University School of Medicine
them excited about scientific discovery.
We hope that when they finish up their
undergraduate studies they will strongly
consider applying to graduate programs
in the biomedical sciences. In addition,
we hope that as a result of their STaRS
experience, they will include BUSM on
their list of schools. It’s really a dual mission: Increase the pipeline of minority
students in the biomedical sciences and
included in that, increase the pipeline of
those students to BUSM.” He also sees the
program as a faculty recruiting tool, as one
day these students may return to the University in that capacity.
The program is designed specifically to enhance the skills required for
successfully entering and completing
a graduate or MD/PhD program in the
biomedical sciences. It offers motivated
and academically talented students a
hands-on, mentored opportunity to realize a strong interest in doctoral studies,
particularly in the areas of heart, lung,
and blood research. During the ten-week
summer internship, students—or research
scholars—are mentored in the laboratory by faculty and laboratory staff from
GMS’s doctoral departments and programs. Placements are aligned with their
research interests. The research scholars
are trained in the use of equipment and
become familiar with the laboratory environment and routines. At the close of the
program, students present their projects
at a symposium.
With 400 applicants for the 13 funded
positions, competition is strong. Four
additional students, whose colleges were
so enthusiastic about the STaRS program
that they provided full support, were also
accepted. “While a majority of those we
"
B
William Cruikshank, PhD,
(center) with (from left)
STaRS Program Administrator Lynese Wallace, Jennifer
Leahy (MED’17), and Chino
Igwebuike (MED’17).
accept are highly academically qualified,
we also want to make a difference for students who are closer to the 3.0 GPA than
the 4.0,” Cruikshank says. “We accepted
some students on the cusp because we
want to promote, and help them get into, a
program and the biomedical field. Our goal
y increasing diversity and engaging those
with different life experiences, different
and better questions are asked that open
up avenues for better research.
—William Cruikshank, PhD
"
PHOTO BY CONOR DOHERTY
STaRS: Advancing
Access to Biomedical
Science Training
is to help them get over some hurdles and
successfully apply for graduate school
where otherwise they would either not
apply or not have the credentials to be
accepted.”
Research scholars receive a $4,800
stipend for STaRS participation, travel
expenses to come to Boston, housing on
the Charles River Campus with fellow
summer scholars, and travel funds to
attend a scientific meeting and present
their research. They have the opportunity
to participate in enrichment and professional development activities offered
through GMS, departmental affiliations,
and labs. Activities include the journal
club, research seminars, science talks, and
workshops focused on building specific
career development skills. STaRS also
offers opportunities for participants to
explore Boston and meet like-minded
students through the Charles River Campus summer term programs.
Considering the time and resource
commitment the program requires, the
faculty response has been tremendous,
says Cruikshank. “They take their role
as mentors very seriously,” he says. “It is
a time sink to train students with little
or no experience, but they have a lot of
desire and enthusiasm. We also have had
great support from the GMS administration and from our graduate students and
postdocs in all the departments.”
“When I was accepted I was really
excited. This is my first experience with
research,” Kailah Simon says. “It has been
eye-opening and has swayed me a bit.
My undergraduate work is in elementary
education, but I decided to do a post baccalaureate program for pre-med. With
the STaRS program, now my game plan
probably will include doing an MD-PhD.”
Simon worked in the Pulmonary Center
in Dr. Joseph Mizgerd’s lab, studying the
relationship between infection site and
the ability of pneumococcus bacteria to
activate macrophage NF-KB signaling in
pneumonia.
“Kailah is exactly the type of student
we are looking for,” says Cruikshank.
“Most students are familiar with clinician
careers, but very few know what conducting research is all about. For Kailah, who
is very smart and wants to be a doctor,
this type of experience hopefully makes
her aware that she can be a physicianscientist. In college science, your professor knows the answer; you go into the
lab and conduct an experiment and you
either do it correctly or you get the wrong
answer. In research, we don’t yet know
the answer. In this program, we hope to
instill in students the excitement of investigating and discovering something that
no one has discovered before.”
The word is spreading at BU. The
Neuroscience Department approached
Cruikshank to develop a program for
them and they have submitted a grant
for funding. “We also wrote into that
proposal bringing some undergraduate
faculty to the Medical Campus to spend
10 weeks in a neuroscience lab, then go
back to their classrooms to present stateof-the-art ideas on neuroscience. We are
looking for the faculty to spark an interest
in college students and perhaps get them
thinking about pursuing a research career
in the field of neuroscience.”
“Expanding the diversity of research
scientists is vital to the pursuit of biomedical discovery, which in turn translates into the health of the public,” says
Hyman. “Dr. Cruikshank and the faculty
engaged in this program have done a
superb job. Even in the short time of 10
weeks, it is evident that the excellent
exposure to biomedical research that the
research scholars experience catalyzes
and heightens their interest in the field.
We all benefit from this.” n
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
13
FACULTY
News
FACULTY PROFILE:
Ann Zumwalt, PhD, Anatomist and Educator
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SAID, “Tell me and
I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve
me and I learn.”
Ann Zumwalt would agree.
Assistant professor of anatomy and neurobiology and a BUSM faculty member since
2007, Zumwalt is a teacher to the core whose
research focuses on the neurobiology of education. She is course director for gross anatomy and also teaches the subject to medical,
doctoral, and master’s degree students.
“The theme of my life has been teaching,
and it is the driving force for what I have done,”
says Zumwalt. “Along the path to becoming
a teacher of anatomy, I learned it’s not just
about teaching the science; it’s about teaching
students the humanity of the work we do in
dissecting the human body to understand it.”
She describes anatomy class as a rite of
passage for students where they learn about
life and death—and themselves. She guides
14
Boston University School of Medicine
them to walk the line between learning from
the bodies they are dissecting and remembering the humanity of the person who donated
the amazing gift of their body. “I think it is an
important part of my job to usher the students through this process. This is true of all
anatomists at BUSM, and I consider myself
lucky to teach a subject that has a human side
to it as well as being an interesting science.”
To bring humanity to her class and guide
students through the rite of passage that
is gross anatomy, she openly discusses the
complexity of the process, encouraging students to communicate their own feelings and
thoughts. She describes the body donation
program and how donors specifically choose
BUSM because they want to help medical
students there become excellent physicians
and scientists. “I think that knowledge is
important to helping students feel comfortable about what they are about to do,”
she says. “We do an exercise in which they
draw out their feelings about their anticipation of doing human dissection. I then show
them results of this exercise from previous classes. What becomes apparent is the
same themes are repeated over and over
again: Questioning whether they can handle
it, thinking about the human person and the
journey they took to get there, and paralleling
their own journey to becoming a doctor to
the journey of donor.”
Zumwalt earned her doctorate in 2005
from the Center for Functional Anatomy and
Evolution at The Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine, where her research
demonstrated that endurance exercise does
not affect the surface morphology of skeletal muscle attachments. She subsequently
joined the Animal Locomotion Laboratory in
the Department of Biological Anthropology
and Anatomy at Duke University, where she
PHOTO BY KALMAN ZABARSKY
Dr. Ann Zumwalt conducts
an anatomy class.
investigated the effects of hypermuscularity
on locomotor patterns and bone morphology
in rodents. She also collaborated on various
research and educational projects with clinicians in radiation oncology, obstetrics and
gynecology, and neurology.
She joined BUSM because of its emphasis
on teaching. “Many research institutions don’t
tend to value educators, but at BUSM not only
the Anatomy and Neurobiology Department,
but the School itself, values educators. My
department teaches the core subjects of gross
anatomy, neuroscience, and histology, so a
majority of our members are educators as well
as researchers. Also, I work with other course
directors and faculty from other departments
who are extremely dedicated to teaching. This
is a wonderful place to be.”
Zumwalt also instructs a course for graduate students on how to become an effective
educator of biomedical sciences, explicating the theory and practice of teaching.
She mentors master’s degree and doctoral
students in teaching anatomy and develops
collaborations with other departments so
students can demonstrate their knowledge
through pedagogy.
“What makes Dr. Zumwalt such an outstanding educator is her commitment to
the education of her students, as well as her
profound interest and dedication to her students themselves,” says Jarrett Rushmore,
PhD, assistant professor of anatomy and
neurobiology. “She is a consummate educator who thinks deeply and carefully about
how to convey complex concepts and
thoughts. She brings to bear a high level of
attention to detail coupled with creativity,
inspiration, and enthusiasm. Dr. Zumwalt
is a tireless mentor and advocate for her
students; the graduate students she has
mentored have emerged from her tutelage
as better writers, educators, and scientists,
and she has fostered an environment among
the medical students that is supportive
and encouraging while still being intellectually challenging. This balance between
being creative as well as precise and creating a supportive yet challenging academic
environment is something for which all
S
"
he brings to bear
a high level of
attention to detail
coupled with
creativity, inspiration, and
enthusiasm.
"
—Jarrett Rushmore, PhD
educators strive. Dr. Zumwalt achieves it
effortlessly.”
Her research also dovetails with her teaching, providing an objective way to study
learning. Capitalizing on the strong neuroscience program in her department, Zumwalt
looks at how knowledge of brain function can
inform educators and further their work. “My
personal interest is the transition from naïve
learner to expert; what happens to a person
when they go from knowing little to nothing
about a particular topic—like medical students entering the gross anatomy course—to
becoming an expert radiologist who can look
at an abstract representation of the body
and quickly see a tumor or lesion.” Zumwalt
recently published a paper in which she and
her research team used gaze tracking to document that progression.
Inspired by the educational endeavors of
her colleagues, she directs John McCahan
Medical Campus Education Day, an annual
event that fosters a community for educators
on the BU Medical Campus who are interested in educational innovations and scholarship. She also participated in the task force to
develop and implement a professional development program for junior faculty.
Currently, she is revising the first-year
medical curriculum as a co-chair of the
BUSM I Revision Subcommittee of the
School’s Medical Education Committee.
“It is challenging to change curriculum,
as there are so many ripple effects of any
substantial change,” she says. “But to be
able to take a step back to look at what
we do well and identify what needs to be
improved is an exciting and interesting
responsibility. We all want to get it right; to
do what is best for the students.”
Advising students is a big part of her BU life.
“Advising is a great way to engage with students and get to know them. The School has a
wonderful system of advising in the Academy
of Advisors. I know it takes a lot of time, but
it’s most rewarding to help them when they’re
struggling and to see them fulfill their goals.”
Zumwalt also advises master’s degree students, is the faculty advisor for BUMC Pride,
the Medical Campus LGBTQ organization, and
has served as a School of Medicine representative to the University Faculty Council. On a
national level, she is involved in the American
Association of Anatomists (AAA), having
served on the AAA’s Advisory Committee of
Young Anatomists and Board of Directors. n
HONORS
Richard Babayan, MD, chief and chair of the
Department of Urology, was named president
elect of the American Urological Association
(AUA), effective in May 2015; he will assume
the presidency in May 2016. He is the first
Boston urologist to be elected national AUA
president since 1988. Babayan has served in
a number of capacities for the AUA’s New
England section over the years, including in
the role of section president and representative to the AUA Board of Directors.
Domenic A. Ciraulo, MD, professor and chair
of psychiatry and chief of psychiatry at BMC,
was appointed as the chair of the National
Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
(NIAAA) study section AA-3, which reviews
all grant applications requesting funding for
clinical studies of treatments for alcoholism
and health services research on alcoholism.
He has been funded by NIAAA for more than
18 years, serving as a Principal Investigator
(PI) at the BUSM site for the COMBINE study,
PI on his own R01 grants, and mentor for a
number of K awards.
Gerard Doherty, MD, chair of the Department
of Surgery and chief of surgery at BMC, was
elected president of the American Association
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
15
FACULTY News
Judith A. Linden, MD, vice chair for education and associate professor of emergency medicine, was honored as the 2014
Community Clinician of the Year by the
Suffolk District Medical Society, one of
the district societies of the Massachusetts
Medical Society, the statewide professional
association of physicians. The Community
Clinician of the Year Award was established
by the Massachusetts Medical Society to recognize a physician from each of the Society’s
20 districts who has made significant contributions to his or her patients and the
community and who stands out as a leading
advocate and caregiver.
Christine Pace, MD, assistant professor
of medicine and primary care physician at
BMC, was selected as one of the Greater
Boston Chamber of Commerce’s “Boston’s
2014 10 Outstanding Young Leaders.” The
list acknowledges the contributions of young
leaders who come from the public, private,
and nonprofit sectors of Greater Boston. Pace
leads an interdisciplinary team at BMC that
integrates behavioral health services into care
provided at the Adult Primary Care Clinic.
Vasan Ramachandran, MD, professor of
medicine and senior investigator of the
Framingham Heart Study, was awarded the
American Heart Association (AHA) 2014
Population Research Prize for “brilliantly seizing upon opportunities to translate cuttingedge bench science into an epidemiological
context, thereby making fundamental contributions to identifying systemic markers for
cardiovascular risk, both here and in developing countries.”
16
Boston University School of Medicine
Dr. Erika Wolf, assistant professor of psychiatry and a psychologist in the Behavioral
Sciences Division of the VA National Center
for PTSD, was selected as the 2014 recipient of the Chaim and Bela Danieli Young
Professional Award from the International
Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. The
award recognizes outstanding contributions to the traumatic stress field by an
early career professional and reflects her
exceptional scholarship in the areas of PTSD
genetics and assessment.
the Boston Public Health Commission and the
CDC. Corley’s goal is to begin BSL-4 research
in the NEIDL in 2015. He also plans to begin
a significant recruitment campaign across a
number of different disciplines.
Corley earned a BS in zoology and a PhD
in microbiology and immunology from Duke
University. He has been MED’s microbiology
chair since 1994, a position he says taught
him to work across disciplines and build broad
collaborations between the Charles River and
Medical Campuses.
—Barbara Moran, BU Today
APPOINTMENTS
Ronald Corley, PhD, was appointed director
of BU National Emerging Infectious Diseases
Laboratories (NEIDL) effective October 1. He
succeeds John R. Murphy,
a BUSM professor of medicine and microbiology,
who has served as interim
director since 2011. Corley
has served as associate director of the NEIDL
for five years as well as associate provost for
research on the Medical Campus and chair of
the Department of Microbiology.
Corley will continue as professor and chair
of microbiology, though not as associate provost for research.
“Dr. Corley’s leadership and vision will allow
the NEIDL to reach its potential of being one
of the premier centers for research on emerging and deadly infectious diseases,” said
Gloria S. Waters, vice president and associate provost for research. “His experience as
the associate director over the past five years
will ensure a smooth transition and has shown
that he has the collaborative style necessary
to run a center like this and strengthen this
area of research excellence at BU.”
The lab has been approved for some
Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) research and is currently working to secure the necessary permits and approvals for BSL-4 research from
Thomson Reuters Names BUSM Faculty and Framingham Heart Study
Researchers Among World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds 2014
BUSM faculty members and Framingham Heart Study researchers are listed in Thomson
Reuters’ The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds 2014. Reuters’ list of “some of the best
and brightest scientific minds of our time” is determined by analyzing data on which researchers have produced work that is most frequently acknowledged by peers. Reuters analyzed
citation data over the last 11 years to identify those who published the highest-impact work
(2002–2012 and 2012–2013).
Faculty members Michael Holick (medicine, physiology and biophysics) and Alice Jacobs
(medicine/cardiology) are included on the list under clinical medicine as are BUSM/BU
Framingham Heart Study researchers Emelia Benjamin (medicine/cardiology), Ralph D’Agostino
(mathematics/statistics), Martin Larson (mathematics/statistics), Daniel Levy (medicine/
cardiology), Joseph Massaro (biostatistics), and Vasan Ramachandran (medicine/cardiology).
“Everyone acknowledged in this book is a person of influence in the sciences and social
sciences. They are the people who are on the cutting edge of their fields. They are performing
and publishing work that their peers recognize as vital to the advancement of their science.
These researchers are, undoubtedly, among the most influential scientific minds of our time.”
(Thomson Reuters’ The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds 2014)
PHOTO OF GALEA BY DAN AGUIRRE
Michael F. Holick, MD, PhD, professor of
medicine, physiology and biophysics, was
awarded the American Society for Bone and
Mineral Research’s (ASBMR) 2014 Louis V.
Avioli Award, which honors a member of the
ASBMR for fundamental contributions to
bone and mineral basic research. It is named
for ASBMR’s first president and founding
member, Louis Avioli, MD, who was one of the
world’s leading medical authorities on osteoporosis and calcium metabolism.
Rose Razzino, administrative manager in
the Laboratory of Neuropsychology and
Behavioral Neuroscience, received the 2014
BUSM Academic Affairs Office Excellence
in Service Award. With BU since 1971,
Razzino began her outstanding work with
the Behavioral Neuroscience PhD Program
at its inception 29 years ago. She manages
all administrative aspects of the Behavioral
Neuroscience PhD Program, coordinating
activities in the Behavioral Neuroscience
Program within GMS and clinical departments affiliated with the Laboratory of
Neuropsychology, and grant-related administrative activities for the Laboratory of
Neuropsychology. She supports the PhD
Program in its numerous and frequent interactions with other BU departments and the VA
Boston Healthcare Service.
PHOTO BY KALMAN ZABARSKY
of Endocrine Surgeons. He will serve as president through 2015.
Sandro Galea, PhD, an internationally
respected physician and epidemiologist
known for his research linking health to such
social disadvantages as
poverty and lack of education, has been appointed
the new dean of the School
of Public Health. Galea,
formerly the Anna Cheskis
Gelman and Murray
Charles Gelman Professor and chair of the
department of epidemiology at Columbia
University’s Mailman School of Public Health,
assumed the BU post on January 1.
Galea, who in 2006 was named one of
Time magazine’s epidemiology innovators,
served on the New York City Board of Health
and chair of the New York City Department
of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Community
Services Board. His research has examined
many aspects of public health, from the
causes of brain disorders to the consequences
of mass trauma and conflict worldwide,
including the September 11 attacks, Hurricane
Katrina, conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa, and
the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He was the lead author on a groundbreaking study published in the American Journal
of Public Health in 2011 that calculated the
number of deaths caused by six social factors. That study, a meta-analysis of 47 earlier
studies, concluded that each year 133,000
deaths could be attributed to poverty and
176,000 deaths could be attributed to racial
segregation.
Galea has published more than 450 scientific journal articles, 50 book chapters and
commentaries, and 9 books. His latest book,
coauthored with Katherine Keyes, is the textbook Epidemiology Matters: A New Introduction
to Methodological Foundations. He is a past
president of the Society for Epidemiologic
Research and an elected member of the
American Epidemiological Society and of the
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy
of Sciences. Galea trained as a primary care
physician at the University of Toronto and
practiced in rural communities in Canada and
Somalia. He then returned to academia and
earned a master’s degree in public health at
Harvard and a DrPH at Columbia.
—From a BU Today story by Art Jahnke n
Publications
Dermatopathology Interactive
Atlas, Second Edition
Online at:
www.dermpathatlas.com
Jag Bhawan, MD
Jag Bhawan, MD, professor of dermatology and
pathology and head of the
Dermatopathology Section
and vice chair in the BUSM
Department of Dermatology,
and co-authors Hugh
Randolph Byers, MD, PhD,
and Purnima Sau, MD, have
made the Dermatopathology
Interactive Atlas available
online. The 5,000 images
and 10,000 links contained in
the atlas can be accessed at
no cost for anyone to learn,
review dermatopathology, or
aid in diagnosing skin lesions.
The atlas is also useful to
prepare for examinations in
dermatopathology and dermatology and includes a quiz
following the review.
Paul Zoll, MD: The Pioneer
Whose Discoveries Prevent
Sudden Death
Free People Publishing, 2014
Stafford I. Cohen, MD
(MED’61)
Paul Zoll MD: The Pioneer
Whose Discoveries Prevent
Sudden Death is an account
of the life
and work
of Dr. Paul
M. Zoll, the
physician
and medical
researcher
behind the
treatments
and techniques we
use today to save victims of
heart attacks and to prevent
premature deaths from other
forms of heart failure. The
biography examines his childhood, education, military
service, family relationships,
recreational interests, and
social associations from 1911
to 1999. The book focuses
on Dr. Zoll's contributions
to medicine, especially his
breakthroughs in cardiac
care and his development of
closed-chest pacemakers and
defibrillators, implantable
pacemakers, and heart monitors. Through documented
historical analysis, the book
shows how Dr. Zoll created
and was the first physician to
use devices that are forbearers of life-saving implements
commonly used today.
The author, Dr. Stafford I.
Cohen, was a medical resident under Dr. Zoll and, later,
his colleague at Beth Israel
Hospital in Boston. His book,
the first full-length biography
of Dr. Zoll, firmly establishes
him as a world-class innovator whose treatments and
inventions truly make him the
father of modern electrocardiac therapy.
The House of Black and White:
My Life with and Search for
Louise Johnson Morris
Strategic Book Publishing,
2014
David Sherer, MD (MED’84)
The House of Black and White
is the story of a young boy
so strongly influenced by
his family’s maid that, as a
man, he begins searching for
her three decades after she
went missing. This
compelling memoir
begins in
1959 in
suburban
Washington,
DC, and
concludes
in 2012.
Impact of Energy Balance on
Cancer Disparities
Springer, 2014
Gerald V. Denis, PhD,
co-editor
Dr. Gerald Denis, associate professor of pharmacology and medicine, co-edited
this volume that reviews
disparities
in cancer
genetics,
etiology,
treatment,
and survivorship that
are associated with
differences
in energy
balance and how
those differences and disparities may be affected by
geography, socioeconomic
status, ethnicity, biology,
behavior, and other factors.
State-of-the-art strategies
are outlined to alter these
problems at the individual,
community, and policy
levels.
The book provides a
comprehensive assessment
of the multiple contributions of disparities in
energy balance and how
they affect cancer. n
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
17
Students
IN Memoriam
Jasmine Chobanian, cherished
wife of Aram V. Chobanian, MD,
President Emeritus of Boston
University and Dean Emeritus
of BUSM, on July 25, 2014, after
a brief illness. Considered the
"First Lady" of Boston University
and the Medical Campus by her
many admirers, Mrs. Chobanian
was honored by the University
in 2006 with a gala dinner and
arts program.
Much beloved and warmly
regarded by the entire BUSM
community, Mrs. Chobanian
will be greatly missed.
A graduate of Brown
University (Pembroke College),
Mrs. Chobanian was a research
hematology technician at
Harvard's Thorndike Memorial
Laboratories. She was also a
talented portrait painter who
attended the Boston Museum
School and studied under the late
artist Conger Metcalfe. A patron
of the arts, she served as a member of the Board of Trustees of
the Boston Ballet Company.
Much beloved and warmly
regarded by the entire BUSM
community, Mrs. Chobanian will
be greatly missed.
Alvin Essig, MD, professor
emeritus of physiology and
medicine, on July 22, 2014, at
the age of 91. A BUSM professor for more than 40 years,
Essig was an international
scholar regarding the application of thermodynamics to
epithelial transport processes.
He worked with Ora Kedem,
a pioneer in the development
of irreversible thermodynamics, at the Weizmann Institute
18
Boston University School of Medicine
in Rehovot, Israel. He later
joined Tufts Medical School
faculty, lectured in biophysics at Harvard Medical School,
and joined BUSM in 1973 as
a professor of physiology and
research professor of medicine,
where he worked until his retirement in 2013.
He received his BS in mathematics from Harvard College
and his MD from The Ohio
State University. After internships at Kings County and
Jewish Hospital in Brooklyn,
New York, he served as a lieutenant (junior grade) in the US
Navy. He specialized in nephrology at New York Presbyterian
Hospital and Massachusetts
General Hospital. He published
numerous scientific articles
and in 1983 authored, with Roy
Caplan, what is now considered
a classic textbook, Bioenergetics
and Linear Nonequilibrium
Thermodynamics.
mechanisms of modulation of
GABAergic function by benzodiazepines and neurosteroids
and of CNS abnormalities such
as autism. His discoveries were
revealed in more than 45 publications and many abstracts
presented at the Society of
Neuroscience annual meetings.
A recent recipient of the
Excellence in Education and
Mentoring Award from the
Neurosteroid Congress, he
played a key role in the design
and implementation of the curriculum for the Biomolecular
Pharmacology Predoctoral
Training Program at Boston
University and guided innumerable PhD candidates. He
taught medical, dental, and
master’s degree students
at BU, and all medical students over the past 23 years
have learned the principles of
pharmacodynamics under his
tutelage.
Terrell Gibbs, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology
& experimental therapeutics,
on August 15, 2014, at MD
Anderson Cancer Center in his
home state of Texas. A BUSM
faculty member for 24 years, Dr.
Gibbs received his undergraduate degree in biology from MIT
and his doctoral training in pharmacology from Harvard Medical
School. He pursued his interests
in neuropharmacology, first at
Downstate Medical Center in
the Department of Anatomy
& Cell Biology at SUNY Health
Science Center in Brooklyn,
New York, and then at Boston
University, working in close collaboration with Pharmacology
Chair Dr. David Farb.
Dr. Gibbs’ research involved
elucidation of the molecular
Kwabena Kyei-Aboagye, MD,
PhD, former BUSM associate professor in obstetrics and
gynecology, in a car accident
July 24, 2014, on the University
for Development Studies
(UDS) campus in Tamale,
Ghana, at the age of 74. He was
the Acting Dean of the UDS
School of Medicine and Health
Sciences.
In addition to his work at
BUSM, Dr. Kyei-Aboagye was a
member of the Department of
Obstetrics and Gynecology at
BMC. He joined the BUSM faculty in 1984 and left in 2008 to
join UDS.
He was instrumental in
establishing BMC’s program
to care for pregnant women
with addiction issues and
was recognized for this effort
by the Boston Public Health
Commission in 2001.
Dr. Kyei-Aboagye earned
his bachelor’s degree from the
University of Ghana, and both a
PhD in pharmacology and MD
degree from McGill University
in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Arnold Relman, MD, former
BUSM professor of medicine,
on June 17, 2014, at the age of
91. Editor of the New England
Journal of Medicine (NEJM) from
1977 to 1990, Relman graduated from Cornell University
in 1943 with Distinction in
Philosophy and received his
medical degree from Columbia
University in 1946. After his
internship and residency at
Yale-New Haven Hospital, he
served as a National Research
Council Fellow in medical sciences at BUSM. In 1951, he
joined the BUSM faculty as an
assistant professor of medicine, achieving the rank of
professor in 1961, and was
named the Conrad Wesselhoeft
Professor of Medicine in 1967.
He also served as director of
the V and VI Medical Services
at Boston City Hospital, now
BMC. He was editor of the
Journal of Clinical Investigation
from 1962 to 1967 and 1968
to 1977, and the Frank Wister
Thomas Professor of Medicine
and chair of the Department
of Medicine at the University
of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine.
He also was a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School
(HMS) and senior physician at
Brigham and Women's Hospital in
Boston. In 1991, he became editorin-chief emeritus of NEJM and
professor of medicine and of social
medicine at HMS.
He was a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts
and Sciences, a member of
the Institute of Medicine of
the National Academy of
Sciences, and president of the
American Federation for Clinical
Research, the American Society
of Clinical Investigation, and
the Association of American
Physicians. He was a member of
the American Board of Internal
Medicine, as well as of the board
of directors of the Hastings
Center for Bioethics. He was a
master of the American College
of Physicians and a fellow of
the Royal College of Physicians
of London.
Gene Stollerman, MD, BUSM
professor emeritus, on August
5, 2014, at the age of 93. Dr.
Stollerman joined the faculty of
BUSM in 1981, where he advocated for research and clinical
training in geriatrics, preventive medicine, health services
research, and primary care.
Appointed a distinguished physician of the US Department
of Veteran Affairs in 1986, he
promoted research to aid aging
veterans and helped establish
a research center in Bedford to
evaluate the outcomes of geriatric care.
He graduated from Columbia
University College of Physicians
and Surgeons and served as
chief resident in medicine at
Mount Sinai Hospital in New
York. He also served at the
Percy Jones Army Hospital in
Battle Creek, Michigan, where
he was a captain in the US
Army Medical Corps. Returning
to Mount Sinai in 1948, he
completed his residency and
was a microbiology fellow at
New York University. n
On the Farm at the Medical Student Residence
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Doug Hughes, MD,
(red tie) joins students for planting season at the Medical
Student Residence’s (MSR) lower 40 acres. The raised
beds behind the MSR provide students with fresh, organic
produce for healthy eating.
HONORS
Yvette Joon Ying Boon, a Department of
Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
doctoral student, was selected to receive the
Perdana Scholar Award from the Education
Department of Malaysia for students studying
in the United States. The goal of the program is
to identify, document, and promote Malaysian
students who have excelled in areas including
academics, leadership, sports, entrepreneurship,
invention, and research. The Prime Minister of
Malaysia presented the award September 26 in
New York.
Katrina Ciraldo and Daniel Silva were named
recipients of the American Society of Tropical
Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) 2014
Benjamin H. Kean Travel Fellowship in Tropical
Medicine. Through a highly competitive process, 22 fellows from 18 medical schools were
selected. This fellowship is the only medical
student award dedicated to nurturing a career
path for physician-scientists in tropical medicine and is presented annually to full-time
medical students at accredited medical schools
in North America.
Leslie Maness, a third-year medical student, was
one of six 2014 Margaret E. Mahoney Fellows. The
Mahoney Fellowship program of the New York
Academy of Medicine (NYAM) provides stipends
for outstanding medical, dental, public health,
public policy, and graduate nursing students to
conduct summer research projects on some aspect
of health care delivery transformation for vulnerable populations and/or early childhood health and
development, with an emphasis on policy implications. Maness conducted her research at New York
University School of Medicine/Bellevue Hospital
on the impact of low health literacy and limited
English proficiency on parent/caregiver medication
dosing errors when delivering liquid medications to
children. She presented her summer research project at the NYAM.
Lauren Sweetser, a first-year student, was named
an Albert Schweitzer Fellow for the 2014–15
Class. She and approximately 220 other 2014–15
Schweitzer Fellows will spend the next year developing lifelong leadership skills while learning to
effectively address the social factors that impact
health. Schweitzer Fellows follow the example
set by famed physician-humanitarian Albert
Schweitzer, for whom the fellowship is named. n
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
19
M
COVER STORY l The Arts Issue
oisès Fernández Via once volunteered in the pediatric oncology department of a local hospital in his hometown of Barcelona, Spain, where the now world-renowned
concert pianist says he learned about life and the power of
the arts. After a young patient asked him to “make music,”
he envisioned bringing a performing arts program to the
hospital and ultimately established the first-ever such program in a Spanish medical facility. He extended his vision to Boston University, where he has piloted the BU Arts Outreach
Initiative, a collaboration between the BU Medical Campus (BUMC) and the College of Fine
Arts (CFA). “My endeavor at BU is a continuation of the work I started in Barcelona a decade
THE ARTS
ISSUE
HOW THE BU ARTS OUTREACH
INITIATIVE IS CREATING A NEW
WAY TO THINK ABOUT STUDENTS,
PATIENTS & MEDICINE.
BY MARY HOPKINS
PhD student Alexandra Wink (MED’11, ’18) performs
with fellow musicians and medical students Al
Nadjarian (MED’17) (seated front), Bobby Carey
(MED’13, ’17) (left back), and David Park (MED’17).
Photo by Michael D. Spencer
20
Boston University School of Medicine
ago—a way to continue following that request to make music,” he says.
Fernández Via, the initiative’s project curator and researcher,
sees Boston University as a unique environment for an arts outreach program. “Under the umbrella of a prestigious research
university, BU is home to a first-class medical education institution, an affiliated teaching hospital with one of the most rich and
diverse populations, and a conservatory arts college with the oldest
degree-granting music program in the United States,” he says. “The
Arts Outreach Initiative aims to articulate an innovative dialogue
among these three realities that coexist at BU. Our goal is to nurture cross-disciplinary collaborations, edifying an avenue for creativity for qualitative expressive outlets and celebration among our
Medical Campus community.”
As designed, the program builds relationships between
artistic creativity and health care practice. “Medicine and the
arts have in common their committed dedication to life,” notes
Fernández Via. “Both possess an endless curiosity about the
human condition and its challenges; both aim to care, nurture,
and transform at some level. A dialogue between medicine and
the arts seems to me a conversation between two perspectives
observing the same object. A productive relationship between
the two means a two-way endeavor that mutually benefits
each other.”
Through the Arts Initiative, CFA students come to the Medical Campus to share their artistic gifts with students, faculty, staff,
and patients. In turn, Medical Campus students, faculty, staff, and
patients are given opportunities to display their artistic talents and
learn from their CFA counterparts. The arts play a role in the early
intellectual and personal education of many medical students. This
program supports the presence of creativity in their medical training, encouraging them to embrace both art and medicine without
having to choose between them.
During the 2013–2014 academic year, the program offered
59 arts-related activities including campus and hospital musical
performances, theater projects, life-study drawing sessions, and
musical flashmobs. The program also fostered the School of Public
Health Student’s Art Society, inter-school art projects including a
dance flashmob, and a National Public Health Week music video.
Collaboration between patients of the BMC/BUSM Department of
Neurology and the BU Jazz Combo and BUSM faculty dedicated a
performance to the physicians and hospital staff who cared for the
patients involved. Also, study break concerts are arranged for Medical Campus students.
Waiting is a central part of the hospital experience. It can
heighten anxiety and in some cases, exhaustion. In BMC’s Cancer
Center, students from the BU Theater Department read poetry
and stories to chemotherapy patients to help pass the long and
sometimes empty waiting periods they must tolerate. During these
times, staff members report that patients request staff attention
less frequently, which helps with the workflow on the unit. In waiting areas throughout the hospital, Arts Initiative students singly
and in groups perform the finest of classical music, thereby turning
these spaces into concert halls.
Some Arts Initiative projects address specific issues in delivering health care. "Silence," a project implemented in a surgical unit
at BMC, utilizes curated musical performances by students. The
unit aims to both heighten the awareness of and reduce the noise
level in their area.
“Not only for the patients, but for the nurses and other health
care teams, [music] provides an overall comfort on the floor. Whenever the music starts, the levels of noise get reduced, it gets quieter
and quieter, and you can feel it . . . it almost becomes spiritual,”
wrote the unit nurse manager.
Musical performances also occur in hallways adjacent to where
patients are recovering from surgery, followed by performances
in individual patient rooms. Understanding that many victims of
the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing were cared for on the Medical
Campus, the program on the one-year anniversary of that event
included Medical and Charles River Campus students and BUMC
faculty and staff performing an impromptu concert to commemorate the tragedy.
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
21
COVER STORY l The Arts Issue
Fourth-year medical student Harin Patel explains that his
involvement in the Arts Initiative meshes with his interest in narrative medicine. “Narrative medicine is the clinical practice of
listening to patients’ stories and using the patient-doctor interaction as the foundation of the entire clinical encounter,” he says.
“I think that participating in artistic endeavors—whether acting
in or watching a play, writing or reading literature, singing, dancing, or something else entirely—is a critical aspect of being able to
practice narrative medicine. If in the future, I am fortunate enough
to practice at an academic medical center, I hope I will be able to
use my experiences with the Arts Initiative in promoting creative
expression in those around me. You don't need to be an artist to be
affected by art.”
“These artistic activities create an impact far beyond the originally planned goals, educating staff and patients alike in artistic
forms generally inaccessible to them, restoring a general sense of
dignity, or simply promoting environments suitable for recovery,”
says Fernández Via.
Having consolidated the pilot phase of the Arts Initiative, his
future plans include potential collaboration with the medical residency program and BMC’s Witness to Violence program, among
others. “We could say that the awareness phase is accomplished,”
he says. “Now we hope that the campus sees us as a reliable partner
to team up with to envision and utilize creativity to continue transforming the campus’ vibrant human and intellectual capital.” n
VISUAL THINKING STRATEGIES:
BUILDING COMMUNICATION
AND TEAMWORK
WHILE MEDICAL CARE IS COMPLEX and delivered in teams, it
“Medicine and the arts have in
common their committed dedication
to life. Both possess an endless
curiosity about the human condition
and its challenges.”
Moisès Fernández Via
is often framed by individual practitioners. More than 60 percent
of medical errors are due to poor communication. Also, research
indicates a strong relationship between a health care team's communication skills and a patient's adherence to medical recommendations and adaptation of healthy lifestyles.
In order to train medical students to be active, effective communicators who observe and listen well, Suzanne Sarfaty, MD
(MED’88), assistant dean for academic affairs and enrichment,
piloted a Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) program in the ambulatory medicine fourth-year clerkship.
“Developing and reinforcing critical thinking skills as well as
instilling a strong capacity for teamwork are essential goals of the
medical education at BUSM,” says Sarfaty. “VTS, by using facilitated discussion of art work, builds skills in observation, listening,
and communication that enhance critical thinking and support
effective team building.”
The program is now in its second year at BUSM. Students view
and discuss works of visual art with a group of their peers, focusing
on identifying characteristics of a highly functioning team. They
work collaboratively to maintain a climate of mutual respect, listen
carefully, and encourage ideas and opinions of other team members. Students explore working within a team to probe ambiguity,
Research indicates a strong relationship
between a health care team’s
communication skills and a patient’s
adherence to medical recommendations
and adaptation of healthy lifestyles.
integrate viewpoints of all team members, and recognize the benefit of teamwork in organizing, managing, and completing complex
tasks. They also examine conflict within a team or with challenging
patients.
“A major goal in my life is to find art in medicine, so naturally
Visual Thinking Strategies applied to medical education was immediately of interest to me,” says third-year medical student Tripp
Leavitt, course manager for the Visual Education in Medicine
elective. “Before medical school, I found myself reading about the
importance of observation and history taking from Drs. Lisa Sanders and Jerome Groopman. When I first stepped onto the floors as
a first-year medical student, I found the skills of observation developed in the art studio and in museums coalescing with what I’d
read, and I wanted to provide other students with more insight into
active looking in clinic.”
22
Boston University School of Medicine
Through the elective, Leavitt found that students became
better active observers and came to understand the difference
between observation and inference by looking closer at images and
artwork, deducing what might be happening, and then backing up
their opinions.
“This kind of observation also involves an internal processing
of visual information,” says Leavitt. “The first step of any patient
encounter is observation. The amount of information that can be
gleaned from the subtlest of clues can be immense. What is the
patient’s posture like? Why are the blinds down? Is the patient
obese or is what appears to be fat distributed in an irregular or
pathological way? Enhancing observational skills is useful to both
clinicians and artists, and can be achieved through the practice of
drawing. VTS also works to enhance communication and collegiality among co-workers, both of which are core to good patient care
in today’s team-based medicine.”
“It is fascinating to participate in the evolution of a story the
students create about the artwork they are viewing, building on
each other’s thoughts,” says Sarfaty. “They practice respectful dialogue, express differences in opinion, and learn how to speak up.
We explore conflict resolution strategies. These are skills that can
be used in the high stakes environment of clinical medicine but
practiced in the low stakes environment of a classroom with peers.”
VTS training also is included in a first-year elective, Visual Education in Medicine. The departments of Medicine and Surgery have
held VTS training sessions for their faculty, and the BU Goldman
School of Dental Medicine has implemented it for their first-year
dental classes and included a VTS segment in a faculty development workshop. While Sarfaty is writing a grant proposal to expand
the program, she is working with the new physician assistant (PA)
program to offer VTS to PA students. n
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
23
COVER STORY l The Arts Issue
THE BEAT:
STORIES BY STUDENTS
year, from reluctantly starting out on a run during our first practice, to joyfully celebrating at the finish of two full miles. We stand
together, clapping and cheering for the other groups as they come
in, some jogging, some speed-walking, and some running. Everyone, volunteers and ninth graders alike, starts out at a different
level of athletic ability, but we push ourselves and one another to
improve and be strong—and together, we make it to the finish line.
REACHING BY TEACHING
By Lauren Sweetser (MED’17)
Meet BUSM-FHR
In fall 2011, a group of BUSM students founded the Forest
Hills Runners community running group and joined with Alexis
Agrinsoni of the Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF) to establish an
after-school running program for teens in Jamaica Plain. A community center and youth development nonprofit organization for disadvantaged teens who attend
Boston Public Schools, HSTF
serves youths who are from
predominantly low-income
families and face a multitude
of obstacles to wellness,
including struggles in school,
violence in their neighborhoods, and barriers to health
care access.
One of the issues we
wanted to address was the
problem of childhood and
adolescent obesity in innercity populations. Studies
have shown that overweight
children and adolescents are
at increased risk for adverse
long-term health outcomes.
Physical activity is a key
component of obesity pre-
I WILL NEVER FORGET THE TIME I helped a child learn to walk.
24
Boston University School of Medicine
faceted approach has proven to be one of the keys to the project’s
quick success thus far and has helped REACH gain enthusiastic
support at BUSM and beyond.
Health care is all-encompassing and extends far beyond the
clinic. My hope was that relationships fostered between the medical
students and families at the shelter would help to increase student
awareness about the unique struggles of homeless teenage mothers.
I wanted to design a project that aimed to better educate and prepare
our generation of medical students to understand the social determinants of health, while encouraging them to be compassionate and
informed patient advocates prepared to tackle important issues in
health care for Boston’s communities and beyond.
REACH’s recognized success and the energy created by its passionate members have helped spread awareness about this vulnerable and sometimes marginalized population. These teens need
mentor support, and medical students can provide that. REACH
gives medical students an opportunity to connect with our community in a meaningful way while providing an engaging complement
to our demanding medical education.
Creating REACH has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Precious moments at the shelter provide context
and significance to my studies and I am thankful for every one of
them. Those inspiring first baby steps were not just the first steps of
that young boy, but also the first of my journey in medicine.
For more information about REACH, contact Lauren Sweetser at
[email protected] or [email protected].
If we can truly
understand their
backstories,
their needs, their
aspirations, and
the resources
available in their
communities, we
can more effectively
collaborate with
young patients and
families.
Learning to move
Twice a week, Janisa and her peers (affectionately called “Rookie
Runners”) can be found running through Jamaica Plain with
BUSM-FHR volunteers by their side. Since outdoor running is
weather-dependent, we tailor our exercise plans to ensure continued physical activity throughout the year. During the warmer
months, practices last an hour and consist of stretching, warm-ups,
and mapped runs around the Jamaica Plain area. In the winter, we
run on the indoor track at Curtis Hall Community Center, where
we do relays and play games that make track-running fun. On some
days, the group plans indoor workouts involving creative exercises,
such as Zumba, circuit training, and strengthening exercises. Volunteers recruited from the community, including certified personal
trainers and professional dance instructors, lead these special
workouts. To wrap up after practices, we distribute reusable water
bottles and healthy snacks, thanks to generous funding from the
BUSM Wellness Program. Our practices are high-energy, physically
challenging, and always a lot of fun.
From runners to leaders
After 10 months as a Rookie Runner, one sunny Saturday morning
in June, Janisa proudly steps up to a microphone in front of hun-
LEADING THE PACK
By Kristin Schwarz (MED’14) and Miriam Ruiz (MED’16)
asks the group. Her friends reply to this challenge in a harmony of
enthusiasm—“Yup!” “Alright!” “Okay, Let’s Go!”—then take off in
a full sprint for the last city block. We race all the way to the stop
sign, not slowing down until we have broken through the imaginary
finish-line tape. We all high-five each other for a job well done—our
first two-mile run together without stopping to walk.
We are the Boston University School of Medicine–Forest
Hill Runners (BUSM-FHR), volunteer “running buddies” for this
group of ninth graders, and we’ve seen them come a long way this
PHOTO BY KRISTIN SCHWARZ
“DO YOU ALL WANT TO RACE to the last stop sign?” Janisa*
PHOTO BY LAUREN SWEETSER
When I first met him, though he was past the appropriate age to be
walking and had no significant disabilities, he just wasn’t able to. He
was living in a homeless shelter with his 17-year-old mother, and I
worried that he simply wasn’t getting enough stimulation. Unfortunately, while this teenage mother was very well-intentioned, she
had just never been taught about child development and thus didn’t
even realize her son needed to be encouraged to walk. As a firstyear medical student, I was taking Human Behavior in Medicine
at the time, and was coincidentally learning about the important
milestones in child development. I could hear the lecture playing
in my head as I showed the mother how to encourage her son to
walk. Since I visited this shelter weekly, I was able to watch the
progression of my little champion and felt a great sense of pride
when he took his first steps. I had never felt more connected to
my medical education.
I met this family through a service-learning project I started
in the fall of 2014. After years of volunteering at a shelter for teen
mothers and their young children, I arrived at BUSM and began to
see the potential to combine our rigorous clinical curriculum with
the work I was doing at the shelter. It appeared that these young
teens had few positive, sustained relationships and certainly didn’t
have a reliable source of health information. I was inspired to create a group that would share the resources of BUSM with these
young women while also educating new medical students about the
social determinants of health.
I began sharing the story of these young teens with fellow
classmates, and gathered students interested in working with this
population that I had come to know and love. In the first few weeks
of school, with the help and encouragement of BUSM faculty and
staff, our new service-learning project, “Resources and Education
for Adolescents and their Children (REACH),” was born.
For the past nine months, our team of 20 enthusiastic medical
students has piloted this unique service-learning project with great
success. The mission of REACH has been to work with and learn
from these homeless teenage mothers and their young children by
actively supporting them through educational workshops, constructive childcare, and longitudinal, multifaceted mentorship.
Once a month, we conduct interactive workshops for what
the shelter advertises as “Health Night.” These hour-long sessions
focus on specific health and wellness issues relevant to the young
mothers and their infants, including mental health, nutrition, illness prevention, and infant environmental safety. In addition, we
have partnered with Horizons for Homeless Children to provide
weekly, safe, creative, and playful activities for these young children
in order to counteract the negative effects of homelessness and to
encourage their appropriate social, motor, and cognitive development. Our goal is to encourage solid, healthy relationships between
inexperienced teen mothers and their new children. This double-
vention, but oftentimes inner-city youth have limited access to
the kinds of quality after-school programs, teams, and parks that
promote regular exercise and active play.
As medical students, it is important to understand the barriers to physical activity that many children and adolescents face.
If we can truly understand their backstories, their needs, their
aspirations, and the resources available in their communities, we
can more effectively collaborate with young patients and families
to help them engage in active lifestyles. Awareness is key, and
there is no better way to understand where someone is coming
from than to (literally) walk next to them on their journey toward
wellness.
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
25
COVER STORY l The Arts Issue
Bringing Music Into Their Lives
THE DOCTORS’ NOTES
Singing in the BUSM a cappella group the Doctors’ Notes is a wonderful
way for second-year medical student Al Nadjarian and his fellow singers
to have fun, relieve stress, and bring joy to others. “We all just love music
and are excited to rehearse and perform,” says group co-chair Nadjarian.
“We want people to know that med school is not just studying all the
time. We can take our heads out of our books and get together to sing.”
Co-chaired by David Park, Anne-Sophie Touret, and Aliyah
Sanders, the student-run and directed group performs a cappella (i.e.,
without instruments) music ranging from 1940s standards to current
day hits; no formal experience is required to join. They sing in hospital
wards and at school functions, including the Admissions Office open
house for accepted students, the Chester S. Keefer Society Dinner,
the Creative Arts Society Art Days, open mic nights, and the annual
Kick Back Kafe. Their mission is “to share our passion for singing with
whomever we can, whether they are our fellow students, hospital
patients, or anyone whose day can be brightened by voices in harmony.”
The group finds their hospital performances especially gratifying, particularly in the pediatric units.
Members regard their weekly rehearsal as entertainment rather
than commitment. “While the performances are appreciated by others, we also do it for ourselves,” Nadjarian explains. “Med school gets
stressful, and knowing that we have that hour each week with people
enjoying themselves and sharing their love of music is great.” Not to
mention that performing as a group requires knowing how to work as
a team, a valuable skill for future health care practitioners.
BUSM
Research
■ Anti-Seizure Drug May Reduce Alcohol
Consumptionn
BUSM researchers have discovered that the anti-seizure
drug ezogabine reduced alcohol consumption in an experimental model. The findings, reported in the American
Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, may lead to more effective treatments for alcoholism.
According to the researchers, this study provides the
first evidence that alcoholism can be treated by this newly
discovered mechanism that helps to regulate brain activity known as Kv7 channel modulation. “This finding is of
importance because ezogabine acts by opening a particular type of potassium channel in the brain, called the Kv7
channel, which regulates activity in areas of the brain that
are believed to regulate the rewarding effects of alcohol,”
explained lead author Clifford Knapp, PhD, BUSM associate professor of psychiatry.
Senior author Domenic A. Ciraulo, MD, BUSM professor and chair of psychiatry, was supported in this work
by the NIH and by funds received from the Gennaro
Acampora Charitable Trust Fund.
■ First Guidelines for Patients with Pulmonary
Hypertension in Sickle Cell Disease
The Doctors’ Notes perform at the annual
Chester S. Keefer Society Dinner.
26
Boston University School of Medicine
In welcoming the 5K participants, Janisa described her experience training: “Before I started with this group, I was a couch
potato and not a fan of doing my homework. Then I came here, and
running was hard. But we encouraged each other, and the Forest
Hills Runners all encouraged us. I began to see that overcoming a
run was like overcoming my schoolwork. I got a tutor and now I am
doing much better in school.”
What began as a simple concept for a youth exercise program
has become so much more. It is a safe, supportive environment for
the Rookie Runners to explore their potential and a way for medical students to reach out and invest in building relationships in
the community. With this unique experience, our volunteers will
be better prepared as physicians to work empathically and collaboratively with patients to help them achieve more active, healthy,
and well-rounded lives. Through this program, we hope to educate
young people about the benefits of physical activity and to promote positive self-image, leadership, and teamwork skills. We aim
to inspire these adolescents to set and strive for goals not only in
terms of exercise, but in all aspects of their lives. The success of this
new program has been encouraging, fueled by the enthusiasm of
BUSM student volunteers, HSTF administration, and the fantastic
Rookie Runners. Together, we are moving forward, and we are continuing to learn and improve with every step. n
*Name changed to protect privacy
PHOTO BY ATLANTIC PHOTO SERVICE INC. ©2014
dreds of community members to greet them at the start of the Hyde
Square Task Force Neighborhood 5K Run/Walk. The Rookie Runners have trained for months for the run, and today, Janisa encourages the community to be a part of their success.
Beyond active living, BUSM-FHR supports teens in becoming
leaders and role models. Each year, we welcome a new group of 30
to 40 high school freshmen to the program and complete a “Couch
to 5K” training program in preparation for this springtime Neighborhood 5K Run/Walk. As part of the program’s initiative to build
leadership skills, the teens help plan the event, which gives them
a unique project-based context in which to practice their skills in
literacy, math, and communication. In taking on this challenge, the
Rookie Runners not only improve themselves, they also set a positive example for their peers and invite the whole community to join
them in becoming more active.
In spring 2013, more than 300 community members took
part in the Hyde Square Task Force Neighborhood 5K Run/Walk.
Notably, participants included a large group of BUSM medical
students and a team of physicians from Martha Eliot Health Center (MEHC), a Boston Children’s Primary Care health center that
stands just a couple of blocks away from HSTF. MEHC funded the
event, and the New Balance Foundation provided running shoes for
the Rookie Runners. The event raised thousands of dollars to support HSTF programming.
The first set of clinical guidelines for treating patients
with pulmonary hypertension in sickle cell disease has
been created by BUSM and BMC physicians. Elizabeth
Klings, MD, BUSM associate professor of medicine and
BMC director of the pulmonary hypertension inpatient
and education program, spearheaded the development
of these guidelines, which are published in the American
Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
A group of 24 national physician leaders in pediatric and adult hematology, pulmonology, and cardiology convened to develop guidelines specific to these
patients. Funded by the American Thoracic Society and
endorsed by the Pulmonary Hypertension Association
and the American College of Chest Physicians, the
guidelines represent the most comprehensive pulmonary recommendations thus far.
■ Reproduction Later in Life Is a Marker for
Longevity in Women
Women who are able to naturally have children later in
life tend to live longer and the genetic variants that allow
them to do so might also facilitate exceptionally long life
spans. The BUSM study published in Menopause: The
Journal of the North American Menopause Society, says
women who are able to have children after the age of 33
have a greater chance of living longer than women who
had their last child before the age of 30. The findings also
Women may
be the driving
force behind
the evolution of genetic
variants that
slow aging and
decrease risk
for age-related
genes.
A group of
24 national
physician
leaders in
pediatric and
adult hematology, pulmonology, and
cardiology
convened
to develop
guidelines
specific
to these
patients.
indicate that women may be the driving force behind the
evolution of genetic variants that slow aging and decrease
risk for age-related genes, which help people live to
extreme old age.
“Of course this does not mean women should wait to
have children at older ages in order to improve their own
chances of living longer,” explained corresponding author
Thomas Perls, MD, MPH, director of the New England
Centenarian Study (NECS), a principal investigator of
the Long Life Family Study (LLFS) and BUSM professor
of medicine. “The age at last childbirth can be a rate of
aging indicator. The natural ability to have a child at an
older age likely indicates that a woman’s reproductive
system is aging slowly, and therefore so is the rest of her
body.” Also contributing to this study were researchers
from Boston University School of Public Health, Mailman
School of Public Health at Columbia University and the
University of Pennsylvania.
The Long Life Family Study is funded by the National
Institute on Aging.
■ High-Protein Diets Lead to Lower Blood
Pressure
Adults who consume a high-protein diet may be at a
lower risk for developing high blood pressure (HBP).
The BUSM study, published in the American Journal of
Hypertension, found participants consuming the highest amount of protein (an average of 100 g protein/day)
had a 40 percent lower risk of having high blood pressure
compared to the lowest intake level.
“These results provide no evidence to suggest that
individuals concerned about the development of HBP
should avoid dietary protein. Rather, protein intake may
play a role in the long-term prevention of HBP,” explained
corresponding author Lynn Moore, MD, BUSM associate
professor of medicine. “This growing body of research on
the vascular benefits of protein, including this study, suggests we need to revisit optimal protein intake for optimal
heart health.”
This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung,
and Blood Institute’s Framingham Heart Study, Boston
University School of Medicine, and a grant from the
American Egg Board/US Department of Agriculture.
■ Mechanism that Stops Progression of
Abnormal Cells into Cancer Identified
BUSM researchers report that a tumor suppressor pathway called the “Hippo” pathway is responsible for sensing
abnormal chromosome numbers in cells and triggering
cell cycle arrest, thus preventing progression into cancer.
Although the link between abnormal cells and tumor
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
27
BUSM Research
suppressor pathways—like that mediated by the wellknown p53 gene—has been firmly established, the critical
steps in between are not well understood. According to
the authors, whose work appears in Cell, this work completes at least one of the missing links.
At the end of a normal cell division cycle, chromosomes evenly divide to produce two identical cells with
23 pairs of chromosomes each. However, errors sometimes occur during division, resulting in giant cells with
double the number of chromosomes, known as tetraploid cells. Normally, p53 dependent pathways stop tetraploid cells from proliferating. This response is critical
because those tetraploid cells that escape detection can
facilitate cancer development.
Using a technique known as genome-wide screening, the researchers found that when one specific gene,
LATS2, was eliminated, the arrested tetraploid cells
resumed proliferation, thus demonstrating that LATS2 was
an upstream gene responsible for halting abnormal cell
division. The LATS2 gene is known to activate the Hippo
tumor suppressor pathway, which is the same pathway
our bodies use to ensure our vital organs don’t grow out
of control. The authors demonstrate that the Hippo pathway also represents the underlying pathway that prevents
tetraploid cells from proliferating and causing tumors.
“Although more studies are needed to further clarify this
critical pathway, this work may help guide the development of new therapies that specifically target tumor
cells with abnormal numbers of chromosomes, while
sparing the normal healthy cells from which they originated,” explained corresponding author Neil J. Ganem,
PhD, assistant professor of pharmacology and medicine
in the BUSM Shamim and Ashraf Dahod Breast Cancer
Research Center.
Funding for this study was provided in part by the
National Cancer Institute.
Gene May Increase Alzheimer’s Disease Risk
in African Americans
■
Researchers from BUSM report that two rare variants in the
AKAP9 gene significantly increase the risk of Alzheimer’s
disease (AD) in African Americans. This previously
unknown association furthers the understanding of the role
of genetic factors in the development of AD.
According to the researchers, whose findings appear
in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, AKAP9 encodes a protein with
multiple forms. One of these, AKAP450, is expressed in
the brain and responsible for microtubule anchoring and
organization. Another protein, tau, which is responsible
for microtubule functioning, is well known to be the key
constituent of neurofibrillary tangles that accumulate in
AD brains.
“While further work is needed to clarify the causal
link between these AKAP9 variants and AD, “this study
indicates a new potential disease mechanism in the quest
for a better understanding of AD, particularly in African
Americans,” said senior author Lindsay Farrer, PhD, chief
28
Boston University School of Medicine
The authors
demonstrate
that the Hippo
pathway also
represents
the underlying
pathway that
prevents tetraploid cells from
proliferating
and causing
tumors.
"Our results
show that we
can have a
marked impact
on a patient’s
addiction by
addressing it
during their
hospitalization.”
of Biomedical Genetics and BUSM professor of medicine,
neurology, ophthalmology, epidemiology, and biostatistics. “Moreover, this is the first authentic example of rare
genetic variants conferring a high risk of AD in African
Americans.”
Funding for this study was provided by the National
Institute on Aging.
■ Study Finds Increasing Health Coverage Does Not
Improve Readmission Rates
In a first-of-its-kind retrospective study, BUSM researchers have found that providing health insurance coverage
to previously uninsured people does not result in reducing
30-day readmission rates. The study, which appears in
the British Medical Journal, used data on actual versus selfreported use of care and found no change in racial/ethnic disparities in this outcome, despite a markedly higher
baseline of un-insurance among African Americans and
Hispanics in Massachusetts.
“Among African Americans and Hispanics, we
found the odds of readmission did not decrease in
Massachusetts relative to control states, and there was no
change in the magnitude of the white-black and whiteHispanic difference in readmission rates,” explained lead
author Karen Lasser, MD, MPH, BUSM associate professor of medicine. The researchers believe that in order
to reduce readmissions and disparities in readmissions,
states like Massachusetts need to go beyond simply
expanding insurance coverage.
Funding for this study was provided by the US National
Institutes of Health grants and a grant from the Rx
Foundation.
■ Treat Patients with Addiction During and After
Hospitalization
The results of a study demonstrate that starting hospitalized patients who have an opioid (heroin) addiction on
buprenorphine treatment in the hospital and seamlessly
connecting them with an outpatient, office-based treatment program can greatly reduce relapse rates after they
are discharged. The study shows the important role that
providers play in offering these patients addiction treatment both while in the hospital and after, even if their
primary reason for being in the hospital is for something
other than their addiction.
“Unfortunately, referral to substance abuse treatment
after discharge is often a secondary concern of physicians caring for hospitalized patients,” said corresponding author Jane Liebschutz, MD, MPH, BUSM associate
professor of medicine and an internist at Boston Medical
Center. “However, our results show that we can have a
marked impact on a patient’s addiction by addressing it
during their hospitalization.”
The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, was
conducted in collaboration with Butler Hospital in Rhode
Island. Funding was provided in part by the National
Institute on Drug Abuse. n
RESEARCH AWARDS
■ Boston University Receives NIH BEST Grant to Promote
Biomedical Careers Beyond Academic Research
BU is one of seven institutions to receive the prestigious Broadening
Experience in Scientific Training (BEST) award by the National
Institutes of Health (NIH). The five-year, $1.8 million award will provide biomedical research trainees from across the University with
enhanced training to help PhD students and postdoctoral trainees
prepare for careers beyond conventional academic research.
BU’s BEST program will involve
trainees throughout the University’s
schools and colleges engaged in
biomedical research, including the
School of Medicine (BUSM), the
School of Public Health, and the
Henry M. Goldman School of Dental
Medicine. BUSM’s Division of Graduate Medical Sciences (GMS) is
home to more than 850 students and approximately 400 postdoctoral trainees who will benefit from the BEST program.
“In order to maintain the nation’s scientific competitiveness, it is
critical to attract, prepare, and engage a well-trained workforce. Our
goal is to re-engineer the training pipeline,” explained Linda Hyman,
PhD, associate provost for the Division of GMS at BUSM and one of
the principal investigators of BU’s BEST program. “Using analysis of
the job market as the driver of professional development programming, BU’s BEST will enable trainees to fulfill the needs not only of the
current market, but also the future biomedical workforce.”
“Our goal is to
re-engineer
the training
pipeline.”
■ $5 Million NIDA Grant Awarded to Jeffrey Samet, MD
Jeffrey Samet, MD, MA, MPH, professor of medicine and community
health sciences, was awarded a five-year, $5 million grant from the
National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) along with Dr. Carlos Del Rio
from Emory University for their project, “Improving Physician Opioid
Prescribing for Chronic Pain in HIV-infected Persons.”
After marijuana, prescription opioids are the second-most commonly abused substances in the US, and overdose deaths related to
prescription opioids now exceed deaths from motor vehicle crashes.
Prescription opioid abuse appears to be even more common among
HIV-infected patients, presumably a consequence of the known comorbidity between HIV and substance use.
The grant will fund the “Targeting Effective Analgesia in Clinics
for HIV” (TEACH) Study. TEACH will test the effectiveness of a collaborative care intervention to improve the management of chronic
opioid therapy and reduce the misuse of prescription opioids among
HIV-infected persons.
“This is a novel randomized controlled trial of a chronic disease
management intervention to improve the delivery of chronic opioid
therapy and reduce prescription opioid misuse among HIV-infected
persons. If demonstrated to be effective, this model could be adopted
by clinics nationwide, may improve physician satisfaction and confidence in this challenging aspect of patient care, and has the potential
to improve the health and well-being of persons with HIV,” explained
Samet, principal investigator of the grant. The study will be conducted within the BMC HIV clinic (CID), with Dr. Meg Sullivan as a
co-investigator.
■ BUSM Receives $3 Million from NIH for Genetic Research in
Alzheimer’s Disease
BUSM received major funding from the National Institute on Aging
(NIA) as part of a national effort to identify rare genetic variants
that may protect against and contribute to Alzheimer’s disease
risk. The four-year, $3 million grant, “Identifying Risk and Protective
Variants for AD Exploring their Significance and Biology,” is led by
Sudha Seshadri, MD, professor of neurology and a senior investigator at the Framingham Heart Study and for the Cohorts for Heart and
Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium.
This project is linked to CHARGE projects at two other universities;
all together grants total more than $10 million. Other BU investigators who are part of the CHARGE project are Anita DeStefano, PhD;
Adrienne Cupples, PhD; and Josee Dupuis, PhD, who are professors of
­biostatistics; and Honghuang Lin, PhD, assistant professor of medicine.
■ NIA $12.6 Million Grant to Identify Genetic Variants Related to
Alzheimer’s Disease
Researchers from the BUSM Biomedical Genetics division are part of
a five-university collaboration receiving a $12.6 million, four-year grant
from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to identify rare genetic variants that may either protect against, or contribute to Alzheimer’s disease risk.
At BUSM, the Consortium
for Alzheimer’s Sequence
Analysis (CASA) is led by
Lindsay A. Farrer, PhD, chief of
biomedical genetics and professor of medicine, neurology,
ophthalmology, epidemiology,
and biostatistics, who is the
principal investigator. Other
Boston University investigators include Kathryn Lunetta,
PhD, professor of biostatistics;
Gyungah Jun, PhD, assistant
professor of medicine, ophthalmology and biostatistics; and Richard Sherva, PhD, research assistant
professor of medicine.
CASA investigators will analyze whole exome and whole
genome sequence data generated during the first phase of
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Alzheimer’s Disease
Sequencing Program, an innovative collaboration that began in
2012 between NIA and the National Human Genome Research
Institute, also part of NIH. They will analyze data from 6,000
volunteers with Alzheimer’s disease and 5,000 older individuals who do not have the disease. In addition, they will study
genomic data from 111 large families with multiple members who
have Alzheimer’s disease, mostly of Caucasian and Caribbean
Hispanic descent to identify rare genetic variants.
“This is an exciting opportunity to apply new genomic technologies and computational methods to improve our understanding of the
biological pathways underlying this disease,” said Farrer. “The genes
and pathways we identify as integral to the Alzheimer process may
become novel therapeutic targets.” n
They will analyze
data from 6,000
volunteers with
Alzheimer’s disease and 5,000
older individuals
who do not have
the disease.
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
29
BUSM
Giving
bu.edu/supportingbusm
$1.3 million alumnus bequest for scholarships
Impact: The Campaign for BU
and the School of Medicine
You can make an impact on BUSM students and
faculty. With your support, the next generation of
clinicians, medical leaders, researchers, and entrepreneurs can join us in turning possibilities into
reality. You can help students receive a cuttingedge education that prepares them for rewarding
careers and gives them the tools and resources
necessary to be trailblazers in their chosen fields.
You can help us support our faculty who conduct
pioneering research and are committed to creative
and relevant teaching and learning strategies. No
matter your contribution, you can advance medical education and research.
More information on our campaign is available at
www.bu.edu/supportingbusm. See how you can
make a difference!
Spotlight on Gifts
Edward Parsons, MD (MED’65), a pulmonologist
specializing in tuberculosis, understands the need
for more research in this area. Combining a cash
gift with a bequest in his will, he recently committed $100,000 to support BUSM’s Pulmonary Re-
30
Boston University School of Medicine
thoughtful generosity. The training of future
generations of accomplished physicians that
their gift will support is their legacy. We are
deeply grateful.”
Dr. Gazzaniga’s decision to include
BUSM as a major beneficiary of his estate
stemmed from his having his medical
education paid for through the GI Bill; he
wanted to give back in gratitude for the
opportunities his education had afforded
him. When asked at his 50th BUSM reunion
what his most memorable experience
was during medical school, Dr. Gazzaniga
replied, “Training for experiencing the greatest profession there is.”
An internist with Kaiser Permanente in
Sacramento, California, for many years, Dr.
Gazzaniga specialized in nephrology. He
completed residencies at the Philadelphia
VA Hospital and Boston City Hospital and
served as a clinical faculty member at the
University of California Davis School of
Medicine. He was a fellow of the American
College of Physicians and a diplomate of
search Center. Of his gift, $50,000 was matched
by another anonymous donor who shares his
interest in advancing pulmonary medicine.
Neil Ganem, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacology and medicine, was recently named one
of five New England recipients of a three-year,
$300,000 Smith Family Award for Excellence in
Biomedical Research. This extremely selective
award supports the careers of newly independent
biomedical researchers, who must be full-time
faculty at academic, medical, or research institutions in Massachusetts, Brown University, or Yale
University, with the ultimate goal of achieving
medical breakthroughs.
A friend of the School of Medicine who believes
in the need for more pulmonary bench science
recently used a Charitable Gift Annuity to make
a $100,000 contribution in support of BUSM’s
Pulmonary Center.
Generous support from alumni, parents, and friends
will have a vital and enduring impact on the experience of students, faculty, and researchers at the
School of Medicine. Learn more about making
your own impact at www.bu.edu/supportingbusm,
or contact the BUSM Development Office at
617-638-4570 or [email protected].
the American Board of Internal Medicine.
His wife, whom he met while a student at
BUSM, was a retired registered nurse who
also worked in real estate sales.
“Our medical students are amazing in
terms of their intellectual capabilities and
diverse interests as well as their strong
commitment to community health and caring for the underserved,” said Jean Ramsey,
MD (MED’90, SPH’08), BUSM associate
dean for alumni affairs. “It is so gratifying
to know that an alumnus like Dr. Gazzaniga
believed in the importance of providing
scholarship support for these dedicated and
passionate students.” n
First held in 1974 to recognize leadership donors of
the BUSM Alumni Association’s newly inaugurated
Dean’s Club Giving Society, the annual Dean’s Club Dinner offers BUSM deans the opportunity to personally
thank the many alumni, faculty, and friends of BUSM.
This year, members gathered at the Taj Boston on
October 25. “Dean’s Club members constitute a core
group who understand that philanthropy to the School
of Medicine is essential to supporting our institutional
mission,” said Dean Karen Antman, MD. “We are deeply
grateful to them for their ongoing generosity.”
Bequests and other forms of estate gifts
are important vehicles for supporting
scholarship funds at BUSM. To learn more
about how you can help students achieve
their goals as part of your estate planning,
please contact Kate DeForest in the BUSM
Development Office at 617-638-4570 or
[email protected].
www.bu.edu/supportingbusm
Above right: From left: Richard Babayan, MD, BUSM professor
and chair of urology and his wife Sonya Nersessian, Esq.; Mary
Moore and Thomas Moore, MD, BUMC associate provost and
director of clinical research.
Right: Enjoying the evening are (standing) Alexander Norbash,
MD, BUSM professor and chair of radiology; Eric Sax, MD
(MED’89) and his wife, Julia; and (seated) Sepi Norbash,
Sophia Catrambone, and Richard Catrambone, MD (MED’92).
Below left: BUSM students (from left) David Park (MED’17), Al
Nadjarian (MED’17), Bobby Carey (MED’13, ’17), and Alexandra
Wink (MED’11, ’18) entertain Dean’s Club members.
Below right: Dean’s Club members (left) Donald Kaplan,
MD (MED’73) and (third from left) Gail Kaplan Kraft, MD
(MED’70) with their spouses Edna Kaplan and Arnold Kraft.
Impact by the Numbers
An update on the progress of the sevenyear, $200 million campaign for BUSM:
$127.4M Raised
$110.3M Permanently Restricted
$17.1M Current Use
30 months remaining
More than $13.4M Raised for Student
Scholarships
$3.1M Annual Fund
1,957 Alumni Participating in Campaign
$83.5M Corporations and Foundations
Figures are as of January 13, 2014. Campaign
concludes July 1, 2017.
PHOTOS BY FRANK CURRAN
It’s not every day that Holly Lindner, director
of development and alumni relations for the
BUSM Alumni Association, gets a call like
the one she received last year.
Lindner was informed that a bequest
from Class of 1959 alumnus Frank
Gazzaniga, MD, who died in 2012, soon
would be coming to BU. She learned that
the bequest, which became effective on the
passing of Dr. Gazzaniga’s wife Florence,
was for $1.3 million to fund a scholarship in
memory of Dr. Gazzaniga’s parents, Charles
C. and Anne Dineen Gazzaniga. This was a
very pleasant and rewarding surprise, as the
Alumni Association regularly communicates
to alumni regarding the need for scholarship
funds for medical students.
“The financial indebtedness of our medical students is a significant challenge and
a major focus of our efforts at the School of
Medicine,” said Dean Karen Antman, MD.
“A gift of this magnitude will provide major
financial support for them. We cannot thank
Dr. and Mrs. Gazzaniga personally for their
Dean’s Club Dinner
2014 Marks 40 Years
of Celebrating BUSM
Leadership Donors
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
31
Alumni
CONTACT US
If you have news, announcements,
or creative works you’d like to share
with your fellow alumni, please
write to the BUSM Alumni Association at 72 E. Concord Street,
L120, Boston, MA 02118 or email
[email protected].
BUSM Alumni
Association on Facebook
facebook.com/alumBUSM
32
Boston University School of Medicine
Our alumni are among our greatest assets.
We want you to stay connected to BUSM.
Come visit the beautifully transformed
campus, attend an event, or make a gift—
whether of your time as a mentor to students; as a guest speaker; or by donating
to scholarship or annual funds. Share your
story! Where has your career taken you?
What path did you choose? Which faculty
and/or administrator had an impact on your
medical education?
While you are busy taking care of
patients and making a difference in the
world’s health care delivery, BUSM remains
a part of your history and you, a part of
the School’s legacy. Former BUSM Alumni
Association President and fellow Alumni
Board Member Ken Simons, class of 1980,
sums it up best: “Academic institutions last
longer than any one leadership team, and I
believe that what alumni give is their passion
for the institution where they trained. Alumni
carry on the institution’s tradition. A good
educational experience—and we had an outstanding one—makes you want to help keep
that tradition going.”
Also, please take the time to look at the
incredible travel photography of our colleague, Paul Gitman (MED’66), featured in
this issue. He has observed and captured
some of the world’s most amazingly beautiful
spots. You can visit his website at www.flickr.
com/people/pgitman.
Best wishes for a harvest of professional
and personal success and happiness.
Jean E. Ramsey, MED’90, MPH’08
Associate Dean for Alumni Affairs
Associate Professor, Ophthalmology
and Pediatrics
Vice Chair of Education and Program Director
BUSM Department of Ophthalmology
[email protected]
Alumni Association
Hosts Reception
for Recent Grads
and Future Leaders
Tringale Receives
Volunteer Faculty Award
of Excellence
In October, the BUSM Alumni Association
hosted a reception at the Taj Boston, overlooking the Boston skyline and Charles River.
The event was a wonderful opportunity for
BUSM alumni, faculty, staff, and students
to mingle and for recent graduates to chat
with current students about life after medical school.
During John McCahan Medical Campus Education Day
(Med Ed Day), Stephen M. Tringale, MD (CAS/GRS’86,
MED’90), medical director of performance improvement and research at DotWell Codman Square Health,
was recognized for his years of service to BUSM students.
Dr. Miriam Hoffman-Kleiner nominated Dr. Tringale on
behalf of the BUSM Department of Family Medicine and
presented him with the Academic Affairs Office Volunteer
Faculty Award of Excellence.
Dr. Tringale has been the primary preceptor for thirdyear clerkship students at DotWell Codman Square Health
Center for many years, where he also precepts and mentors family medicine residents and conducts his clinical
practice.
A genuine concern for the students—and for patients
they will serve in their future careers—is at the heart of
Tringale’s teaching. The model of a community-based
family practitioner, he shows students what it means to
practice in a community and community health center by
offering a clerkship experience in which students learn
clinical skills, how to interact with patients, and how central the bio-psychosocial model is to providing effective
medical care.
Above: Dean Karen
Antman, MD, is flanked
by Leah Sax (MED’19),
Mauro Caffarelli
(MED’15) and Ali Sax
(MED’15). Lea and Ali
are daughters of Eric J.
Sax (MED’89).
Right: Jaime Stull
(MED’17), an officer
with the Student Committee of Medical Student Affairs (SCOMSA),
offers remarks from the
perspective of a current
student.
Above: Recent grads
who joined us for the
recent Future Leaders
celebration at the Taj
Rooftop on Thursday
evening, October 2.
Below: From left:
Basim M. Kahleifeh
(MED’96), Joseph M.
Fonte (MED’97), Kim
Scola, Richard Romero
(MED’98) and Lillian
Moy-Lee (CAS’91,
MED’97, SPH’97).
Right: BUSM Associate
Dean for Alumni Affairs
Jean E. Ramsey (MED
‘90, MPH‘08) with Rob
Najarian (MED’05) and
his wife Kristin Kludjian
Najarian.
Shown with Dr. Tringale (center right) are Ann Zumwalt, PhD, associate
professor of anatomy & neurobiology; John McCahan, MD; and Miriam
Hoffman-Kleiner, MD, chair of the BUSM Clerkship Curriculum Subcommittee and director of Medical Student Education in the Department of
Family Medicine.
PHOTOS BY FRANK CURRAN
DEAR FRIENDS,
NEWS
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
33
BUSM Alumni
1950 Henry Schoenberger of
1981 Melody McCloud,
MD, of Atlanta, Georgia,
writes, “Former US Health &
Human Services secretary
Dr. Louis Sullivan (MED’58),
and obstetrician-gynecologist and author Dr. Melody T.
McCloud were panelists for
the Atlanta Business Chronicle's Health Care Heroes
Awards 2014 ceremony. The
annual event honors gifted
leaders and innovators in
medicine. Sullivan won the
Lifetime Achievement Award
in 2001, and McCloud won
Physician of the Year in 2012.
Laconia, New Hampshire, writes,
“I'm alive and well, but suffering with
some of the unwanted leisure time
I have now, which was so desired
when I was busy practicing.”
1952 Alan S. Cohen of Dedham, Massachusetts, writes, “My
three sons are moving along in their
careers. All graduated from Harvard
and the oldest, Evan, from Johns
Hopkins Medical School; he is now
practicing gastroenterology in Providence. He has three daughters in
college, the oldest at Harvard Law
School. My middle son graduated
from U of Oregon Law School, where
he was interested in environmental
improvements; he’s now working
at the Massachusetts Department
of Environmental Conservation.
My youngest graduated from BU
Law School and worked for Boston
Mayor Tom Menino in inspectional
services; he now lives in Arizona,
where, after heading inspectional
services in Scottsdale, he went into
real estate. We have moved to an
adult active living center in Dedham,
Massachusetts, called NewBridge
on the Charles, where I have taken
up bridge and given up tennis (bad
knees). Joan and I are approaching
our 60th wedding anniversary. Looking forward to the next reunion.”
1974 Richard J. Shemin of Los
Angeles, California, is now chair
of the American Board of Thoracic
Surgery. Shemin is the Robert and
Kelly Day Professor, chief of cardiac
surgery, executive vice chair of
surgery and co-director of the Cardiovascular Center, and director of
cardiac quality at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
1984 David Sherer of Chevy
Chase, Maryland, writes, “I released
my second book, The House of Black
and White: My Life with and Search
for Louise Johnson Morris, in January
of 2014 (see Alumni in Print and/
or visit www.thehouseofblackand
whitebook.com). It is the true story
of the rediscovery of my childhood
caretaker 31 years after we were
separated, when I was at BUSM
and she left my parent's employ in
Bethesda, Maryland in 1981. I recon-
34
IN Memoriam
CLASS NOTES
Boston University School of Medicine
nected with her in her hometown of
Macon, Georgia, during the Martin
Luther King, Jr. weekend of 2012,
a mere three months before she
died at age 90. It was an incredible
experience. I was also chief medical
officer on a medical mission trip to
Sakila, Tanzania, in July of 2014.”
1985 I. Michael Leitman of New
York, New York, writes, “Now part
of the Mount Sinai Health System
as associate dean for graduate
medical education and professor
of surgery at the Icahn School of
Medicine at Mount Sinai in New
York City. Best wishes to all of my
classmates from BUSM 1985.”
1986 Ziv Haskal of Charlottes­
ville, Virginia, writes, “At last
March’s annual scientific meeting of the Society of Interventional
Radiology, I was awarded the Leader
in Innovation prize by its research
foundation. In addition, my scientific abstract, a report of a two-year,
multicenter dialysis interventions
RCT, won Abstract of the Year (out
of more than 1,000) for the second
year in a row. Submissions to the
journal I edit, Journal of Vascular and
Interventional Radiology, exceeded
1,000 papers last year, an increase
of 40 percent in my term.”
1988 Lloyd Paul Aiello, MD, PhD, received the
prestigious Antonio Champalimaud Vision Award
as part of a group that developed anti-angiogenic
therapy for retinal disease. The award celebrates
both the success of the scientific process and the
outcome, an effective therapy for the treatment of two of the leading causes
of vision loss and blindness in the world: age-related macular degeneration
and diabetic retinopathy. Aiello and other investigators who shared the prize
demonstrated the important role VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor)
plays in ocular retinal disease and how anti-VEGF agents can block its effect.
Aiello, who received BUSM’s Distinguished Alumnus Award this year, is
a professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and vice president
of ophthalmology, head of the Section on Eye Research and director of the
Beetham Eye Institute at Joslin Diabetes Center. A third generation ophthalmologist, Aiello is committed to eliminating vision loss due to diabetic retinopathy and associated conditions. He has served on national and international committees and received at least 45 awards for his research. He also
has been part of numerous editorial and review boards and authored more
than 240 publications. n
1948 • Raymond Seltser of Chevy
Chase, Maryland, on February 16,
2014, at the age of 90. A professor
and associate dean at Johns Hopkins
University’s School of Public Health,
he was deputy director of the university’s oncology center from 1977
to 1981. He served as dean of the
University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate
School of Public Health from 1981 to
1988, when he came to Washington
as associate director of the Centers
for Disease Control. He was a senior
adviser to the Agency for Health
Care Research and Quality from
1990 to 1998. A native of Boston, he
received a master’s degree in public
health from Johns Hopkins in 1957.
He served as an army medical officer during the Korean War and was
awarded the Bronze Star. He wrote
scholarly articles on smoking, radiation, and other public health matters
and later consulted on disability
issues. He is survived by his wife and
two sons.
“Whatever I can see, and I want to see it all.”
Paul Gitman, MD (MED’66), starting taking photos when he was about 11 years old. “It’s an interest
that my dad, who was also a physician, enjoyed,”
recalls Gitman. “I now look at his photos and ­realize
that we have the same eye. What pleases me is
clearly what pleased him.” Retired from an i­nternal
medicine practice in New Hyde Park, New York,
Gitman travels the world over seeking out c­ ultures,
people, wildlife, and scenery to photograph. He
especially loves large animals, waterfalls, ice, and
sunrises and sunsets. Most often he travels with
groups interested in nature and photographs:
“Whatever I can see, and I want to see it all.”
You can enjoy more of Dr. Gitman’s photography at www.flickr.com/people/pgitman.
1950 • G. Robert Baler of Boston,
Massachusetts, on April 18, 2014.
He served as chief of dermatology at Brockton Hospital and was
a long-standing faculty member of
the Department of Dermatology at
Boston University School of Medicine. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of
Boston University, he completed
his residency in dermatology at
BUSM and since 1956 served as a
faculty member. He was appointed
as a clinical professor of dermatology in 1988 and as professor
emeritus in 2001. In 2010, BUSM
named an endowed lecture series
in his honor. He continued to teach
residents and see patients in the
BUSM Department of Dermatology
until 2013. He served in numerous
leadership roles within the medical community including resident
of the New England Dermatological Society; member of the Board
of Trustees of the Noah Worcester
Dermatological Society; member of the Board of Trustees at the
Boston Medical Library; member
of the Executive Committee of the
Advisory Council, American Academy of Dermatology; and House of
Delegates for the Massachusetts
Medical Society. He is survived by
his wife and four children.
Continued on inside back cover
Winter 2015 | www.bumc.bu.edu
35
In Memoriam, continued from page 34
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1960 • Captain Robert C. Cochran
of Charleston, West Virginia, on
September 2, 2013, at the age of 80.
Retired from the US Naval Medical
Corps, he joined the navy at the end
of his second year of medical school.
During his naval career he served
in Norfolk, Virginia; Vietnam (USS
Repose); New York City; and for the
last 15 years of his 26-year career,
as chief of surgery and the Surgical
Residents Training Program at the
Bethesda Naval Medical Center.
While there, he served as physician
to Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan. After he retired from the navy in
1983, he moved to Charleston, West
Virginia, to work with the HYGEIA
Medical Corporation. In 1985, he
was appointed professor of surgery
at West Virginia University School
of Medicine, Charleston Division,
where he twice received the Vincent
Von Kern Award as the surgeon who
made the greatest contribution to
resident education. In 2011, he was
the first recipient of the James P.
Boland, MD Award for the greatest
contribution to medical education at
the school. He is survived by his wife
and three children.
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1960 • Gabriel Fernandes de
Freitas of Paradise Valley, Arizona,
on March 26, 2014, at the age of 79.
He completed his surgical residency
at BUMC and a fellowship in surgical
oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center in New York City. He
practiced surgical oncology in Phoenix, Arizona, until he retired in 2000.
He was a Fellow of the American
College of Surgeons and a member
of the Society of Surgical Oncology;
Society of Head and Neck Surgeons;
American Radium Society; American
Society of Clinical Oncology; Society for the Study of Breast Disease;
and the American Society of Breast
Surgeons. He presented “The Final
Illness of Enrico Caruso” at a meeting
of the Collegium Medicorum Theatri
in Vienna, Austria, in 1978. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.
1964 • Putnam P. Breed of Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, on September 18, 2013, at the age of 75. A
general surgeon, he completed his
residency at Boston City Hospital.
He served in the US Army Medical Corps in Vietnam from 1966
to 1968. He received the Bronze
Star, Combat Medics Badge, and
the Vietnam Service Award, First
Cavalry Division, Vietnam 15th
Medical Battalion. In 1971, he joined
the staff of Anna Jaques Hospital
in Newburyport, Massachusetts,
and Amesbury Hospital. He was a
district medical examiner for the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
as well as an Aviation Medical
Examiner. He is survived by his wife
and four children.
1977 • Irma Miller Lessell of
Lexington, Massachusetts, August,
2014 at the age 79. A homemaker
and mother for 20 years, at age 38
she fulfilled her dream of becoming a
physician. As a student, she excelled
at every level and was only the third
person ever to graduate summa cum
laude from BUSM. After completing
her training in neurology, she joined
the staff of the Lahey Clinic, where
for 19 years she specialized in neuroophthalmology and pediatric neurology. In retirement, she returned to
her alma mater, Wellesley College,
and audited many courses in subjects she had not studied during her
undergraduate years. She is survived
by her husband and three sons. A
fourth son passed away in 1977.
1977 • Jeanne H. Benjamin of
Brookline, Massachusetts, on July 3,
2011, at the age of 60. She is survived
by her husband and three children.
1984 • Kathleen M. Bennett
of Boston, Massachusetts, on
November 23, 2013, at the age of
56, from metastatic breast cancer.
She completed her internship in
family medicine at Cook County
Hospital in Chicago, followed by
three years of internal medicine at
Boston City Hospital, plus a year as
chief resident. After finishing her
training, Bennett served as a residency program director and community health physician and later
as a leader in health care administration at Neighborhood Health
Plan and Boston Medical Center
HealthNet Plan. Most recently, she
was chief medical officer at Senior
Whole Health. n
“
Thanks to you,
money didn’t make
this choice for me.
”
Tania Torres-Sanchez and her scholarship donor, Sarkis Kechejian (MED’63)
Your gift opens doors at BUSM
Take Tania Torres-Sanchez (MED’16), who
fell in love with BU during her interview
visit. “I knew that I wanted to be here,
and work with this patient population,”
she says. But she also knew that her med
school choice might be driven by financial
aid, not fit. Thanks to a donor-funded
scholarship, “I could come to BU, where
I wanted to come,” she says. “When I got
my BU financial aid packet, I thought ‘Oh,
good. I don’t have to choose between what
I want and what I can afford.’ That’s a
great feeling.”
To learn more about how you can support BUSM
and its students, contact the BUSM Development
Office at [email protected] or 617-638-4570, or
visit bu.edu/supportingbusm
Nonprofit
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72 East Concord Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02118
Calendar
2015–2016
APRIL 30
MAY 1 & 2
Annual Keefer Society Dinner with Dean’s Advisory Board
Boston • Thursday, April 30, 2015
BU School of Medicine Alumni Weekend
BUSM, Boston • Friday & Saturday, May 1 & 2, 2015
MAY 15
GMS/MMS Commencement
Metcalf Hall, George Sherman Union • Friday, May 15, 2015
MAY 16
MD/PhD Commencement
Agganis Arena • Saturday, May 16, 2015
MAY 17
All-University Commencement
Nickerson Field • Sunday, May 17, 2015
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